


The Price of Being Alive

by AngelofShadows



Series: To Love and Be Loved [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), But he tries so hard so they leave him be, Dads of Marmora (Voltron), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Everyone knows about Kuron, Galra Keith (Voltron), Keith wants his mate back dammit, Kuron is a good boy, Mood Swings, Multi, Protective Keith (Voltron), Protective Pidge | Katie Holt, Team as Family, protective dads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-08-08 01:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16419737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelofShadows/pseuds/AngelofShadows
Summary: Shiro is gone. Keith doesn’t know where or how or why, but he does know he failed his mate. Unfortunately, the universe doesn’t give him time to mourn. Lotor must be dealt with and Voltron is needed. Whether or not Keith wants it, he has to lead his pack to victory against new threats and plots. But at least this time, his dads are there to help him through it all.It is true that I have had heartache and tragedy in my life. These are things none of us avoids. Suffering is the price of being alive.– Judy Collins





	1. The Void

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO EVERYONE I AM BACK. Sorry it took me so long but I really dislike S3 & 4 so writing them always takes me forever, especially in this AU where I had to make up some stuff in S4 when Keith is off with the Blades. But it's written and so here's the first chapter of Part 5!

Pidge is worried. Well, that’s an understatement. She’s freaking the fuck out. First off, she’s been in space for going on a year and she _still_ hasn’t found any trace of her father or Matt. Then, Shiro decides it would be a _fantastic_ idea to go poof out of his damn lion and leave them all wondering where the hell he is and what’s happened to him.

On top of all that, there’s Keith.

Her other pseudo-brother is a wreck, though he tries to hide it. She knows he blames himself for whatever happened to Shiro. That he thinks he failed to protect his mate again. He’s tried to keep a lid on it since his initial breakdown in the Black Lion’s hangar a week ago, but she can tell he’s still a mess.

He’s purple a lot these days, doesn’t even try to control his shift. And more often then not he’ll be seen clinging to one of his fathers, who have all taken up residence in the castle for the time being while their kit is in so much distress. Keith also doesn’t talk much anymore, reduced to chirping and, on rare occasion, purring. She’ll hear him speak to Antok sometimes, translators disabled in the room so they can speak privately in Galran, but even those times are rare.

Right now, he’s gasping, hunched over and gripping the sheets of his bed with tears streaming down his face. Pidge had awoken to screams not long ago and had run to Keith and Shiro’s room to find Keith in this state.

“Keith!” She shouts and runs to the bed, scrambling up onto the covers and crawling into her pseudo-brother’s lap. “Hey! Hey, it’s okay, it’s gonna be fine, we’re gonna find Shiro and then my dad and Matt and everything’s gonna be alright, I promise.”

 _“Katie,”_ Keith chokes and wraps his arms around her, burying his face in her neck with a ragged exhale.

“It’s gonna be okay, Keith, I promise. We’ll find him. We will.” She says it again, and again, over and over until Keith finally lays back down, still holding her to him, and falls back into a fitful sleep. She stays, because of course she does. She’s not going to leave him like this. It’s not like she needs much sleep anyway, give her five solid hours and she’s good for three straight days.

When morning comes, Keith doesn’t acknowledge the nightmare he’d had. She tries to get him to talk to her, but he just shrugs and walks away.

Worried is a definite understatement. She’s scared Keith is shutting down. So later that day, she takes her concerns to the one person she thinks she can talk to, the one person who might share and confirm her fear.

“I’m just scared of him deteriorating further.” She explains, shifting on the examination table she’s plopped herself on. “You know how these things work, is he in any danger?”

Ulaz hums, ears flicking in what Pidge guesses is agitation. “Not danger, per se.” The Galra doctor murmurs a moment later, sighing and sitting heavily in the chair by his desk. “But I understand your concern. He is abnormally quiet, and of course we all know he still misses Shiro a great deal. I’m more worried though about what happens once you all start dragging him back out on missions.”

Pidge tilts her head. “How so?”

“Well, Keith and Thace are unfortunately quite a lot alike. And Keith takes very strongly after his mother as well. Thace and Taza were and are well known for not handling emotional situations well. Thace got quite reckless after Taza died, and of course we all know what almost happened when he assumed I was dead.”

Pidge winces. “I see your point. You think Keith takes after them in that regard.”

Ulaz nods. “I am afraid so.”

“Is there anything we can do? I feel so useless. I don’t think we can help the recklessness, or magically bring Shiro back, but I have to do _something_.”

The doctor sighs heavily and leans back in the chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. “There isn’t much we can do, Pidge. Except be there for him if he needs us. Believe me, I wish there was a simple solution to be found like when he was a child, but at this moment? Just, be there.”

Pidge frowns, but nods. “Okay.”

Ulaz reaches out and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “He cares deeply for you all. If you show you feel the same, it will remind him he is not alone.”

Again, she nods, and hops down from the table. “Thanks, Ulaz.”

The doctor smiles. “Any time.”

~*~

Ulaz watches the Green Paladin walk out of the Med Bay and slumps against the back of his chair, groaning. The scent of agitation is thick in the room, but Ulaz isn’t surprised. Everyone has been worried about Keith. His kit is in a very dark place right now, and Ulaz desperately wishes that it was a simple fix. He wishes he knew what to do or say to make everything alright for his son.

He wonders where Keith is at the moment and hopes one of the others is with him. He shouldn’t be alone right now.

The door whooshes open again and Thace steps in. “Keith is asking for you.” His bondmate says, and Ulaz sits back up, eyes wide.

“What? Why? Where is he?”

“What do you mean why?” Thace snorts. “You’re the calm one. You know how best to handle him.”

“Thace, we all know how to handle him.”

Thace shrugs and leans against the doorframe. “Yeah, but you were the first.”

Ulaz rolls his eyes and stands. “Where?”

“Observation deck, seventh floor.”

“Is anyone with him?”

“Allura should be. I asked her to stay while I came to get you.” Thace sweeps out his arm towards the hall. “Go. Our hellion needs you.”

Ulaz snorts but squeezes Thace’s shoulder as he darts out of the room, headed towards the elevator.

He steps into the observation room a few dobashes later to see Keith curled against the window, staring out into the space beyond. Allura is perched next to Keith on the floor, pressed against his side and wringing her hands nervously. She looks up when Ulaz walks in and slumps in relief. She nods to the doctor, then hastily makes her exit, leaving father and son alone in the room.

“Kit? Thace said you were asking for me.”

One of Keith’s ears flicks, and he holds his hand out.

Ulaz steps around the sofa and kneels next to the boy, taking his hand gently.

“What is it, kitling?”

Keith turns and tucks his face into Ulaz’s neck, hand squeezing tight around Ulaz’s fingers.

“It hurts.” Keith whispers. “When will it stop hurting?”

Ulaz’s ears droop and he sighs, resting his cheek against the top of Keith’s head.

“I don’t know, Keith. I wish I did. I wish I had all the answers like when you were little, but I don’t. I’m sorry.”

There is silence for a while, and Ulaz thinks Keith might have fallen asleep when the boy speaks again.

“Dad?”

“Yes?”

“Will you sing to me? Like when I was little?”

“That, I can do.”

So they sit there, in the darkness of the room, and Ulaz sings the lullaby that always put Keith to sleep when he was a baby, and he does fall asleep, curled against the doctor’s side.

He may not have all the answers, or be able to fix everything for his son anymore, but at least he can do this.

~*~

Allura wants to help. She wants to find Shiro, to take away the look of deep regret in Keith’s eyes. She knows he thinks its his fault that their Black Paladin is gone, but it’s not. If anything, it’s Allura’s. If she’d been faster with the Kohmar, or had listened to Kolivan when the Leader had said to call it all off, or…

Well, there’s no sense in “what if’s” now. Gone is gone, and Keith is breaking under the perceived guilt. Having the four Blades in the castle is helping a great deal. Allura knows that if anyone can handle Keith at his lowest, it’s his fathers. But she wants to do _something_. Anything.

She finds Keith when he’s breaking down, sitting against the wall with tears streaming down his face. Thace is with her.

“Shit.” The commander hisses, then looks at Allura. “Come on.”

They both ease into the room and over to Keith, but the princess lets Thace approach first.

“Kiddo? Hey, look at me, Keith. What can we do? What do you need?” The Galra asks, kneeling down next to Keith. Allura kneels next to him, placing a hand on his arm.

“Whatever it is, we will give it to you.” She adds, and Keith chirps quietly. He mutters something Allura doesn’t catch, but Thace has better hearing than she does.

“You want me to go get him for you?” The Galra asks, running his fingers through the hybrid’s hair. Keith nods shortly and curls tighter around his knees.

“Okay, kid. I’ll go grab him. Allura’s gonna stay with you until we get back so you aren’t alone, okay?”

He glances at her and she nods quickly. Of course she’ll stay. He nods back at her, then ducks down to press a kiss to the top of Keith’s head. “Be right back.”

Then he ducks out of the room.

Allura sits on the floor with Keith for several dobashes, not speaking but still holding on to his arm, so he knows he’s not alone.

“’Lura.” Keith mutters after a while.

“Yes, Keith?”

“You don’t have to stay.” Keith sighs, pulling his head up and staring out the observation window. “Dad and Papa will be here soon, and I’m sure you have more important things to do than babysit me.”

“Nonsense.” She says firmly. “You are my friend, and you are hurting. You were there for me when I was hurting, after losing my father, and that was when I still didn’t like you. What kind of friend – what kind of _packmate –_ would I be if I left you alone with your pain now?”

Keith huffs and leans against her. She shifts so she’s settled more comfortably against his side, having to move her hand from his arm to do so.

“You know,” she says quietly, “A wise man once told me that this kind of loss that’s so deeply personal will break you more if you try to ignore it. And that you need to allow yourself to grieve so you can move on to making sure it will never happen again.”

Keith laughs without humor. “How idealistic of him.”

“But he was right.” Allura murmurs. “I had to grieve, for as long as I needed to. Then, and only then, could I move forwards, and focus on fixing things. Making things right. So if what you need right now is someone here to ‘babysit’ you, then I will happily do so, until you find the strength to pick yourself back up, and fix things.”

Again, Keith is quiet, and Allura thinks he’s done talking, but then she hears a very quiet “Thanks, Allura.”

She smiles and leans her head against his shoulder. “Anytime.”

~*~

Thace is ready and willing to tear out his own organs if it will make his kid smile, he swears to the gods. All Keith has been doing for the past few weeks is curl up on the nearest stationary person and sleep. Mostly because when he tries to sleep at night, he wakes up screaming for Shiro.

Shiro. Keith’s mate. Whom Thace has never met.

He’s heard a lot of stories, though. From his bondmate, and Antok and Kolivan, as well as the humans and Alteans aboard the castle. Shiro sounds like something straight out of a children’s story: purely good and kind and courageous. And he is obviously well-loved by the other paladins. Thace hopes he gets to meet the guy soon.

Very soon, he thinks, as he jerks awake in the middle of the night to muffled screams from down the hall. He growls quietly and swipes a hand over his eyes. Damn, he feels so fucking useless. He listens for a moment, hearing Ulaz’s soft breaths behind him, and knows his bondmate did not wake. He sighs and pushes himself up. He’s got to go to Keith. He can’t not go when his son is hurting so badly.

Though before he can stand, the door to his and Ulaz’s room hisses open quietly, and Keith is standing there, arms wrapped around himself and trembling visibly.

“Papa?” Keith whispers, and his voice breaks on that one word.

“Hey, come here, kiddo,” He holds out an arm and Keith hurries across the room to climb into Thace’s lap, burying his face in the crook of his neck. The door hisses shut again, bathing them in the faint blue glow of the safety lights in the room.

“I woke you up.” Keith mumbles. It’s not a question.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Shh, hey, it’s okay, kid. I’d rather be awake and here for you than asleep and letting you suffer by yourself.”

Keith whimpers, curling his fingers in Thace’s sleep shirt. “They won’t stop.”

Thace huffs and noses Keith’s hair gently. “Nightmares don’t really care about us getting good nights’ sleep. Believe me, I’ve had my fair share of them.”

“What do you do, when you can’t sleep?”

“Before, I’d go hit the training deck. But after you and Ulaz came into the picture, that changed. When you were little I’d sneak into the med-bay, and later, your room, and I’d watch you sleep. It calmed me down, knowing you were safe and sound. That seemed to get a little weird as you got older, so nowadays I just watch Ulaz. Same sort of peace of mind, knowing he’s right here and safe. Safety is a rare commodity when you’re fighting a war, you know?”

“Yeah,”

Thace purrs and curls his arms tighter around his son. “Hey, why don’t you sleep in here tonight? That’s what you used to do when you had a nightmare.”

“I’m bigger than I used to be.” Keith mutters.

“Yeah, but still tiny compared to us, kiddo. Come on, it’ll make both of us feel better.”

Keith is still for a moment, then nods against Thace’s neck. “Okay.”

Thace stands, still holding on to Keith, before carefully depositing the boy in the middle of the bed.

Ulaz stirs at the movement and turns over as Thace crawls in beside their son.

“Kit?” Ulaz murmurs, clearly still half asleep.

“Hi, Dad,” Keith whispers.

“He’s staying in here tonight.” Thace says simply, throwing an arm over the both of them and pulling them close, squishing Keith between them.

“Ah, I see.” Ulaz murmurs, then ducks down to kiss Keith’s forehead. “Sleep, now, kitling. We are here.”

“Yeah.” Keith murmurs, tucking his head under Ulaz’s chin. Before long, the both of them fall asleep again. Thace remains awake a while longer though, watching over the two people who mean more to him than the entire universe.

He wonders if Shiro ever did this, watched Keith sleep and marvel at the fact that he was safe. If he was the Champion of the Galra arena, he must have had his fair share of nightmares, and had a healthy awareness that safety was fleeting. Well, if he did, then Thace can do it in his stead, until they find the wayward human.

He tilts his head forwards to nose against Keith’s hair again, and closes his eyes.

~*~

Lance doesn’t really know what to do with himself right now. Everyone’s completely focused on Keith, and for once, he gets it. He’s pretty focused on their Red Paladin as well. The annoying, hot-headed hybrid he’s known has turned into a shell of his former self. He doesn’t talk to anyone, barely eats, and hardly sleeps, judging by the dark circles under his eyes.

So he gets it. Everybody’s focused on Keith and trying to help him through his grief, but Lance has no idea what to do with himself. He and Keith aren’t exactly buddies. He figures the best thing he can do for the Red Paladin is leave him alone and not pick fights.

He’s wandering the halls, making his way to the kitchen for a snack, when he comes across an open door, leading to one of the observation decks. Lance peers in curiously, only to slow to a stop when he catches sight of Keith curled against the window, knees pulled up tight to his chest and head tucked against them. No one is with him.

Lance hesitates. Ulaz had stressed that Keith should not be left alone with his own thoughts, but he doubted Keith wanted to see him of all people. He should probably find one of the Marmora dads. But as he turns to leave, he hesitates. He turns to look at Keith again and sighs, before entering the room quietly.

“Keith?”

Keith flinches. “What do you want, Lance?”

“Nothing, I just… was wondering if you wanted some company. I know I’m not exactly your first choice, but…”

Keith huffs. “Get over here.”

Lance sits opposite Keith and stares out the window. “I’m sorry we can’t help more.” He says. “I wish we could get Shiro back for you.”

Keith shrugs and lifts his head. “We’ll get him back. Somehow.” He frowns though, when he sees Lance. “Why are you over there?”

Lance blinks in confusion. “Uh, because you told me to come over here?”

“Yeah. Over _here_.” Keith nods to the space next to him.

“You… want me to…”

“Get over here, Lance.”

Lance hesitates a moment longer, then crawls over to sit right next to Keith. Immediately the Red Paladin shifts, curling towards Lance and tucking his face into the crook of the Blue Paladin’s neck.

“Keith?”

Keith inhales and curls tighter against Lance’s side.

“Are you… scenting me?”

Keith hums. “Yeah. Wish I’d done it sooner. Then maybe you wouldn’t feel like I hate you.”

Lance frowns. “You do hate me.”

“No, Lance. I’ve never hated you. You exasperate me, and I find you very annoying, but that doesn’t mean you’re not part of my pack.”

Lance looks down at the mop of black hair on his shoulder. “I’m part of your pack?”

“Of course you are.” Keith mutters. “I know you don’t believe that, but I thought you would have been clued in when I practically forced you into the pack pile back on Olkarion.”

“I just thought you were being inclusive.”

“You’re an idiot. You _are_ pack, Lance. Even if we don’t get along, I still care about you.”

“…oh.” Lance feels something warm bloom in his chest. He’s oddly relieved that Keith counts him among his packmates. “So… what do I smell like? You told Pidge and Hunk and Allura, and I’ll admit to being curious.”

“You smell like the sea.” Keith murmurs.

“I thought we didn’t smell like concrete things.”

“You don’t. I went to the ocean once, with Shiro and his family. I remember the smell of salt and vague fishiness, yes, but it was also warm wind, and freedom, a sense of openness. A sense of joy. That’s what I mean when I say you smell like the sea.”

“Oh.” Lance whispers quietly. “I guess that’s good then.”

“Mmhm.”

Lance very carefully lets his head tilt to the side so it’s resting on Keith’s, and the hybrid starts to purr. Pidge and Hunk were right, it is ridiculously soothing. He and Keith end up falling asleep, curled together in the corner of the darkened observation deck.

And after that, things aren’t as bad between them.

~*~

Antok hates everything about this. Hates that Keith is hurting. Hates that he can do nothing about it. All he can do is be here, when he’d rather be home, with his bondmate and his pack and his kit. Safe from anything that could hurt any of them. He wishes Keith had never gone to Earth, that he’d never met _Takashi Shirogane_. All of this could have been avoided.

He carries Keith around a lot now. The boy clings to him a lot more than he used to, and Antok is perfectly alright with this. He lets Keith keep a death grip on his tail, and sleep in his arms, and disable their translators so they can converse privately in Galran. He lets his kit be vulnerable and weak, because he needs to be right now. He knows his kit is far stronger than any other, but even the strongest need to be carried every once in a while.  

He knows the only place Keith gets any decent rest these days is in his arms, so more often than not he’s walking around with a sleeping boy in his arms, and growls if anyone talks too loudly. Mostly it’s the blue one – Lance, Keith had called him – who is too loud, but even he is quieter these days. They all are. They all know Keith can’t sleep anymore. Even the humans with their weak hearing can hear Keith scream at night.

On several occasions, Antok will go to Keith’s room and see the small green one curled in bed with him, trying to calm him down after a nightmare. Her, Antok likes. He also likes the big yellow one, who may not be as big as he and the other Blades are but has been known to pick Keith up and hold onto him until he falls asleep, when the four of them cannot be found in short order.

Antok is brought back to the present as Keith whimpers, curling up more in Antok’s arms. The lieutenant purrs roughly, the scars on his vocal chords making the noise scratchy and uneven, but Keith has never minded. He continues until the boy sighs and nuzzles closer, relaxing back into dreamless sleep again. Antok hates this, more than anything. He hates that their kit is so dependent on another for his happiness.

But, he thinks, as he glances up and sees Kolivan looking over plans with the princess, he supposes he can’t really fault the boy for that. He himself is dependent on his pack for his happiness. Kolivan, Keith, even Thace and Ulaz. After all, isn’t that why Keith had plotted so thoroughly to get him and Kolivan together? So he supposes that while he still hates Shiro a little for leaving his kit in this state, the only real way to fix it is to find the human and bring him back.

So that’s exactly what Antok will do.

~*~

Coran can’t do much. He knows Keith cares for him, same as any of the paladins or the princess, but he’s simply not all that close to the boy, not compared to everyone else.

He’s worried about their Red Paladin, of course, as much as anyone else in their ragtag group. To be honest, he’s been worried about the hybrid since he first came to the castle. Not for the same reason as Allura though, not at all. But the boy had obviously been, well, _lost_. The boy knew the other Paladins, and had a strong support system in Shiro, but he had been displaced. Coran knows what that’s like, being torn away from your home, your family, everything you know and love, with little to no warning.

He had thought, after finding Ulaz, that things had improved, and they had. Keith had been happier, lighter, more whole. And then finding the Blade of Marmora base and two of his other fathers, Coran started to see the real Keith, but now… now he’s that little lost boy again, and Coran can’t blame him. You can only lose someone so many times. He never showed it, but he had been devastated when King Alfor’s AI had to be destroyed. The princess has made her peace with it, but it still pains Coran to think about. He knows that feeling must be even stronger for Keith now.

He finds the boy alone sometimes, curled in front of a window or fighting robots on the training deck. Coran never goes to him. He wouldn’t know how to even begin to help the boy through whatever grief he’s living with. Instead, he calls Ulaz, or Kolivan, or the princess. The people who know Keith better, who can help him with his pain, who can maybe ease the ache he’s feeling, if only for a while.

Coran may not be able to do much for their Red Paladin, but he does what he can, in his own small way.

~*~

Kolivan growls, tossing the data pad in his hand across the room and buries his face in his hands. Nothing. It’s been two months and he can’t find any trace of the Black Paladin, and he’s wasting valuable resources trying to search. Just because Zarkon is out of the picture does not mean the war is over. He needs to use his resources to start freeing worlds, making more allies, taking down more operations, not trying to find one man.

But how can he look his son in the eye and tell him he’s giving up? How could he possibly say that he won’t search anymore after waking every night to the sound of his son screaming the human’s name down the hall? How can he justify diverting resources back to fighting a war when the look of pain he’d seen on Keith’s face in the Black Lion’s hangar is still burned into the back of his eyelids?

“Dammit. Dammit all!” He growls, slamming a fist on the desk before him.

“Kolivan?”

Kolivan freezes, then turns slowly to see his son standing in the doorway, fully shifted, ears flat against his skull.

“Keith,” He sighs, turning to face the boy fully. “I’m sorry, menace, I didn’t see you there. Did I scare you?”

Keith shakes his head, and Kolivan has to remind himself that the boy in front of him is nineteen, not _nine_ , but god, Keith looks so _young_ right now. So scared and anxious and unsure. He doesn’t look like Kolivan’s little menace at all right now, more like to tiny scared kit that first came to them in a broken ship.

Kolivan shakes himself and returns his attention to Keith. “Was there something you needed, menace?”

Keith shrugs, then pads quietly into the small room the Blade leader has claimed as his office away from home. The boy crawls into Kolivan’s lap and tucks his face into the leader’s neck, scenting him and sighing.

“Keith?” Kolivan’s arm raises to wrap around his son, keeping him in place.

“I just… have you… found anything?”

Kolivan sighs. Of course.

“No, Keith, nothing. I’m sorry.”

Keith nods slowly against his neck, but Kolivan can feel wetness start to seep into his fur. His other arm wraps around the boy and he starts purring gently, trying desperately to calm his son.

“But, but we will, okay? We’re still looking, Keith. We’re not giving up yet, I swear.”

“Okay,” Keith chokes, and grips Kolivan’s shirt tighter.

How can he even think about calling off the search right now? Keith is still so fragile, still reeling from the loss, he can’t possibly tell the boy he won’t look anymore. Not now.

Kolivan closes his eyes and sighs again. Just a little longer. He’ll keep searching, just a little longer. For Keith. He owes his son that much.

~*~

Hunk bakes when he’s stressed. It’s productive, makes him feel like he’s in control, and at the end, he gets tasty treats out of it which help him calm down even more. When his friends are stressed? He bakes _even more_. He finds their favorite foods, their favorite treats, and makes them in huge quantities. He remembers when Lance had initially been denied the fighter pilot position. He’d spent all night making taquitos and Oreo cheesecake in the Garrison kitchen before presenting his best friend with the goodies the next day. The watery smile on Lance’s face had been worth the sleepless night.

Hunk wants to do that for Keith, now. He wants to soothe the ragged wound that Shiro’s disappearance had left with tasty snacks. While it wouldn’t fix everything, Hunk knows that good food is always a welcome thing. Problem is, Keith’s favorite foods aren’t made on Earth, so Hunk has no idea how to make them. So he goes to the source.

He knocks on the door hesitantly, fidgeting nervously as he waits out in the hall. He knows the man is inside, had consulted the castle computer first to make sure, but he’s still kind of hoping no one answers.

The door hisses open a moment later, and Antok fills the doorway, peering down at Hunk.

“Yes?”

Hunk gulps but stands firm. This is for Keith. He’s doing this for his friend. Antok loves Keith; surely he’ll want to help, right?

“Hello, Mister Antok, sir.” Hunk stutters. Antok’s tail lashes behind him and Hunk gulps again. “I, uh, okay, look. I’m a chef, right? I make food for people and it makes them happy. When my friends are sad, I make them food so they can feel better. Keith is my friend, and he’s really, _really_ sad right now, so I want to make _him_ food so he’ll feel at least a _little_ better. But thing is, he loves your cooking more than anything else. He always talks about your cooking, says he’ll eat anything as long as you make it. But I want to help him, okay? I want to be able to cook for him when you’re not here and off doing Blade-y things, and still have him be happy. So, I was wondering, if you would tell me what his favorite foods are? And, and maybe if you would, teach me, how to make them…?”

He trails off. He watches the lieutenant’s unreadable masked face for… _anything._

“You,” Antok says after a long pause, causing Hunk to jump. “Want me, to teach you how to cook, for Keith?”

“I, yes.”

“So that you can… make him happy.”

“I want to help him.” Hunk says honestly. “And I can’t really do anything else besides cook. I want to help him the best way I know how.”

Antok regards him for a few more minutes, and Hunk suddenly wishes he were anywhere else. But then, the lieutenant nods shortly.

“Very well.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Come, we must go gather the ingredients.”

Antok walks down the hall, Hunk following at his heels.

Antok walks him through how to make several complex Galra dishes, including two or three chocolatey (apparently chocolate was universal, who knew?) desserts. Hunk commits every instruction to memory, and two days later, presents dinner to the rest of the castle’s inhabitants and watches Keith eat with hopeful eyes.

The Red Paladin takes a bite of the dish in front of him and his eyes widen.  “I didn’t realize you’d cooked dinner, Antok.” He says quietly, glancing at his third father.

“I did not.” The lieutenant says. He never eats at the table, preferring to eat in private so they can’t see his face, but he still sits with them. “Hunk did.”

Keith blinks in surprise, then looks over at Hunk. “You made this?”

“Yep.” Hunk says, shrugging.

“It… it tastes like Antok’s cooking.”

“Well, yeah. I asked him to teach me how to cook your favorites so you can still have good food when he’s out of the castle.” Hunk shrugs like it’s no big deal, but he’s really happy. Keith likes it.

“You learned how to cook like Antok? For me?”

Hunk shrugs again. “No big deal.” He repeats.

Keith looks down at his plate, then up at Hunk again, and…

The entire table stares at the hybrid in shock. Lance’s jaw is practically on the floor. Allura’s hands are covering her mouth. Thace and Kolivan look stunned. Pidge is choking on her last bite. Coran is beaming. Ulaz has tears in his eyes.

Keith is giving Hunk a small, genuine smile. “Thank you, Hunk.”

Hunk blinks at Keith, and then grins.

“Sure, man. Anytime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d like to thank luoup for understanding the hardship of having to write for Seasons 3 and 4 and suffereing with me, as well as Drag0nBairn for giving me way too many ideas for this AU in general.  
> Now that you are happy that Part 5 is here, I have some less than great news. I'm gonna be out of town for a couple weeks for vacation and I won't really have access to a computer?? I'll try to post while I'm gone, but if the worst happens, I won't be able to update again until 11/11. I'm so sorry and maybe I should have just waited until I got back but you guys have already been waiting so long I wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten our favorite fuzzy purple baby! So, I hope you all don't hate me, and I'll see you in the next chapter (as soon as I can get it out)!


	2. The Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends. I am home from trip and I am very tired. But as promised, here is chapter. I didn't have time to edit this so it's probably full of errors but I will fix them when I am less tired. Enjoy the fam angst and Keith being a dumbass.

Keith is still searching. It’s been over two months and he’s still searching for Shiro, with no trace of the man to be found. He combs over the wreckage left from their fight with Zarkon hoping to find something,  _anything_. At this point, he’ll even take a body, he just needs to  _know_. 

He’s gone out to the debris field too many times to count. He doesn’t know why he still tries. He knows he won’t find anything, and he feels worse and worse with each failed trip. He growls as he steers Red back to the castle. Nothing. Always nothing. He’s scared and tired and he just needs Shiro  _home_.

Ulaz is waiting in the hangar when he gets back.

“Hey, Dad.” He mutters, tugging off his helmet. He’s pretty sure he’s gone purple, as he feels his ears droop in dejection.

“I’m sorry, kit.” Ulaz murmurs, wrapping an arm around him as they make their way to the door. “I know it’s hard, but we will find him. It’ll just take some time.”

“Yeah.” He’s starting to doubt those words, even coming from his father. “Where are the others?”

“Well, Lance and Hunk are helping Kolivan with freeing another world. Antok and Thace are with them. Pidge is still analyzing the information she found on her brother, and Allura and Coran are getting ready for the summit.”

“Shouldn’t you be with them? Kolivan and the others, I mean.”

The doctor snorts. “I think they’re fine without me. Besides, you’re the one who needs me most right now. Damn what Kolivan says.”

Keith nods. “Well, I think I’m going to… go back to my room and take a nap, before they get back.”

Ulaz nods. “Alright. Call me if you need me.”

Keith smiles weakly. “I always do.”

~*~

Thace watches the locals fawn over the Blue and Yellow paladins, while giving him and Antok and Kolivan a wide berth. He doesn’t particularly blame them, he’s just glad they were successful in freeing them all. 

Hunk wanders over, munching on some local delicacy. “You know, based on our recent battles, it seems like the Galra empire’s kinda just fallen apart.”

“It’s more than that.” Kolivan tells him. He turn to the cliff face behind them. “Look.”

Hunk and Lance turn, finally noticing the giant carving of Voltron.

“Whoa.” 

“Word of Voltron’s triumph is spreading.” Kolivan tells them.

“It is giving people hope, where before they had none.” Antok rumbles, tail flicking in satisfaction.

Hunk frowns up at the giant carving. “Yeah, I guess the only problem is that we can’t form Voltron anymore.”

Kolivan frowns. “That cannot stand. The universe needs Voltron.”

Lance scowls up at the leader of the Blade. “Yeah? And who do you suppose is going to tell your son that? Us?  _You_? I’d like to see that. I’d like to see you tell Keith that he has to give up on Shiro.”

Thace has noticed that the Blue Paladin has become a lot more protective of Keith lately. 

Kolivan winces, but doesn’t lose his scowl. “At this point, we don’t have a choice. Voltron is needed.”

“So is Shiro.”

Lance turns when the leader of the village they saved approaches them, but Thace can see his shoulders are still tense. 

“You know, he’s got a point.” He whispers to Antok as Kolivan and the paladins talk with the village leader.

“That being?”

“How exactly does Kolivan expect to tell Keith that he’s not gonna help look for Shiro anymore? Because I sure as hell don’t want to see the look on the kid’s face when that happens.”

Antok sighs. “True enough.”

~*~

Keith barely listens to Hunk and Lance talk about their escapade on Puiga. Kolivan and the others (minus Ulaz) are somewhere else in the castle, planning their part for the summit. The doctor is standing against the wall, somewhere behind Keith. He can feel his father’s eyes on him. He knows he’s worried.

He tunes back into the conversation when Hunk says “-they all want to see Voltron, but we don’t really  _have_  Voltron anymore.”

Keith grits his teeth. “We don’t have Shiro anymore either. Everyone seems to have forgotten that.” Everyone but him, at least.

Keith feels hands on his shoulders and sighs, tilting his head so he can press his cheek against his father’s wrist. There is silence for several moments, before Allura breaks it.

“It may be difficult for us all to accept, but it is time to think about finding a new pilot for the Black Lion.”

Everyone stares at her in stunned silence.

“No!” Keith stands, shaking off Ulaz’s hands and glaring at the princess. “I’m going to find him. Shiro was the one person who never gave up on me, I won’t give up on him.”

He stalks out of the room before anyone can try to coddle him. Even his dad knows to give him space right now. He goes down to the training deck and thrashes the bots into submission for a few vargas, before Pidge finds him.

“It’s, uh, time for the summit.” She says quietly as he throws another bot over his shoulder and stabs it with his blade. He sighs and stands as it fizzles out of existence. 

“Yeah, I’ll go change. Thanks.”

“I’m with you, you know.” She says as he walks towards her. “I’m not giving up on Shiro either.”

“I know, Katie.” Keith ducks down and scents her briefly before proceeding down the hall.

The summit was something Keith had not been looking forward to, but as the (temporary, dammit) head of Voltron, he had to be there. Kolivan would have dragged him kicking and screaming if he’d tried to hide out in his room. He’s the only one of Keith’s dads in attendance, in an effort to make the guests feel comfortable. The princess is not the only one who’d held prejudices against every Galra alive.

He gives his speech about the information the Blade had been able to gather in the past few months, and he and Allura give a rousing speech about how much good they’ve been doing. But the leaders just want to see Voltron. They keep asking Allura, and asking, and asking, and Keith snaps.

“We can’t form Voltron, okay!? We can fly the lions, but Voltron is not happening.”

“W-what he means is, right  _now_  they can’t do it, but-” Allura tries to cover for him, but he’s not having it. He snarls, cutting her off, and feels his shift prickle under his skin. He hasn’t felt this angry since she tried to call him evil. Since the fucking  _Garrison_.

“’But’ nothing! Shiro is gone. He was the Black Lion, and until we find him, there is no Voltron.”

Then Kolivan tries to cover for him, and he feels like a child again, like he’s just Kolivan’s  _little menace_ , only good for causing his father problems. He grits his teeth again and grips his wrist, trying to calm down. He doesn’t need to yell at Kolivan. Not now, in front of everyone. But the people, they don’t get it, still. Even after what Keith had said. They don’t seem to realize that the paladins they idolize so much are people too, that they’ve suffered losses too. 

“What are we supposed to tell them now?” One of the leaders says, and Keith snaps again.

“Tell them to stand up and fight for themselves! Voltron is gone!”

“Keith!” Kolivan snaps, and Keith growls at him. The leader of the Blade looks at him in shock, and Keith, Keith is  _done._ He turns and runs from the room. He runs before any of them can try to cover for him. He feels like a child again. Like anything he does just causes problems for his family, but this time, this time he isn’t smug about it, or proud, or sorry. This time, he’s just  _pissed._  He’s not a child, his grief is valid, and even a war won’t make him apologize for it.

He doesn’t know where he’s running to until the doors hiss open and the smell of disinfectant hits his nose.

“Kit?” 

Keith glances up to see Ulaz half out of his chair, concern written all over his face. Thace is also there, looking like he’d been in the middle of a sentence. His expression hardens when he sees the look in Keith’s eyes.

“What’s wrong, kid?”

Keith whines and throws himself at his dad, wrapping around him and maybe he is a child again, but he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about much of anything in this moment.

“Oh, kitling, what happened?” Ulaz coos, wrapping his arms around Keith. Thace’s hands settle on his shoulders, and Keith hears him sigh.

“I’m not sure, but I’ll bet you it was Kolivan.” He mutters.

“Oh what did that ornery bastard do  _now_?” Ulaz hisses.

Keith tunes anything else out, just taking comfort in his fathers’ scents.

Eventually, the door opens again, and Keith catches Kolivan’s scent. Of course he came to find him.

“I should have checked here first.” The leader sighs from the door.

“What happened?” Ulaz growls.

“Keith got… emotional during the summit.”

“Yeah no shit.” Thace huffs.

Keith doesn’t look up until he feels something curl around his wrist. He chirps and turns his face towards the side, where Antok now stands, arms crossed, but tail wrapped snugly around Keith.

“Explain what happened.” Thace says to the leader. “Why’s Keith freaked out so bad?”

“Keith?” Ulaz murmurs, and Keith sighs, pulling away. 

“All I did was tell the truth.” He mutters. “It’s not my fault the summit leaders got so precious about it.”

“They came for Voltron, Keith. That we cannot give it to them is… problematic.” Kolivan chides, and Keith snaps again.

“Problematic? Problematic. And you don’t consider it  _problematic_  that my mate is still missing? That our Black Paladin is lost somewhere in the ether and it seems that everyone but me doesn’t care about that anymore!? What happened to ‘we’ll find him Keith, even if we have to search the whole universe’!? Funny, you never mentioned that that promise had a time limit attached.” He spits, claws digging into his palms.

“I’ve done what I can, Keith, but we do still have a war to fight.” Kolivan says carefully. “I can’t waste anymore resources-”

“So looking for Shiro is a waste of time now. Good to know.”

“Keith…”

“Don’t.” Keith cuts him off. “I get it. You can’t waste your time looking for one man. But let me ask you this, if you were in my position, and it was Antok that was missing, what would you do?”

Kolivan opens his mouth to answer, but nothing comes out. 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Keith shakes off Antok’s tail and steps out of Ulaz’s hold. “The mission comes first, right? That’s what you’ve always said. I guess I just never realized it came before me, too. I suppose that was stupid of me to assume.”

Keith ducks around Kolivan and heads to his room, stomach tying itself into knots with every step.

~*~

The med bay is dead silent. Everyone is staring at Kolivan.

“Yeah, I knew that was going to end badly.” Thace mutters.

Ulaz growls at their leader, who shrinks even further under the doctor’s gaze. “You can’t tell him you’ll help him find Shiro no matter what it takes then go back on your word. You know how he is. You  _knew_  that was going to go poorly.”

“I know.”

“If you knew, then why did you wait until he was surrounded by strangers to bring it up?” 

“I didn’t bring it up then! Allura and I just implied-”

“Yes, because merely implying makes it so much better!”

“Kolivan,” Everyone turns to Antok. The lieutenant had been quiet since he and his bondmate had entered the room. “You need to talk to him. We cannot leave while he’s still angry with you. You’ll never forgive yourself if you leave it like this.”

Kolivan sighs and rubs a hand over his face. “I know.”

“Wait, leaving?” Thace raises an eyebrow. “Since when are you leaving?”

“We all are.” Kolivan says, lifting his head again. “The paladins have their battles, and we have ours. We’ve stayed this long because we needed to work out plans with the princess and because Keith was near catatonic, but we have our own battles to fight, and we cannot do that from the castle.”

Ulaz’s ears snap back against his head. “You cannot be serious.” 

“Of course I am.”

Ulaz snarls again. “No,  _no_. We cannot leave our son like this. Not again. Even if you smooth things over with him, I refuse to abandon him a second time.”

“We are not abandoning him, Ulaz.” Antok tries to assure. “It is not like before, we will remain in contact, he will always know where we are-”

“Not good enough.” Ulaz snaps. “He is in pain, Kolivan. He is lost, and hurting, and he has too much of his mother in him. If we leave him like this, he could very well get himself  _killed_ , and you know it. I will not leave him to his own devices while he is one tick away from self-destructing. No, I am staying.”

Kolivan sighs. “Ulaz,”

“No.” The doctor growls, stepping forwards to get right in the leader’s face. Thace and Antok exchange a look and silently agree that they value their lives too much to try and interfere. 

“I am  _staying_. Go off and fight your battles if you must. Take Antok and Thace, if you need to. But my battle is  _here_ , with our kit, trying to keep him from destroying himself. No force in this universe could make me leave him now. If you try, I will  _tear you apart myself_.”

Kolivan stares at the doctor for a long moment, before deflating, ears drooping in defeat.

“Alright.”

“Good.” Ulaz growls, straightening and taking a step back. “Now go find Keith and tell him what he needs to hear.”

Kolivan turns and disappears down the hall, med bay door hissing shut behind him.

~*~

“Keith?”

Keith groans and rolls over in the bed, pulling the sheets up over him.

“Go away.”

“Please, can we talk?”

Kolivan sounds wrecked, and Keith sighs, sitting up and glancing at the door.

“Fine.”

The door hisses open and the leader of the Blade steps inside, ears pressed flat against his skull and scent reeking of despair. 

“Keith, I’m sorry.”

Keith rolls his eyes and brings his knees to his chest, looking away from his father.

“I told you, I get it. Mission comes first.”

“ _You_  come first, menace. You always come first.”

The bed dips as Kolivan sits, and Keith’s jaw clenches. He doesn’t look up.

“Keith, I’m so sorry I ever made you think otherwise. I know you’re in pain, I know there’s nothing I can do to make it better. And I am sorry I can’t do more, but the people out there, they need help. They need us to help them. I know you want to find Shiro, and we won’t stop looking, but it cannot be my priority. I have a responsibility to help those enslaved by the empire, just as I always have. I can’t stop now, not even for you.”

Keith whimpers and buries his face in his knees. “I know.”

Kolivan wraps an arm around him, and Keith leans into it. “I’m sorry for how I acted.” He whispers.

“No, you had every right to be angry. We’ve told you a thousand times, don’t hold things in. I should have said you didn’t have to come.  _I’m_  sorry I tried to undermine your feelings. They are valid, and I’m sorry if I made you think otherwise.”

“Well, then I’m sorry I made you feel guilty for doing your job.” Keith whispers, and Kolivan purrs.

“It’s alright, Keith. I understand. Are we okay?”

Keith tucks his face into his father’s neck, sighing. “Yeah, yeah we’re good.” They sit in silence for several long minutes. “When are you guys leaving?” he asks quietly, and Kolivan startles.

“How-?”

“Wasn’t hard to guess.”

“…Soon. Probably later today.”

“Okay.”

“We’ll keep in touch this time. It won’t be like when you were on Earth.”

Keith sighs and sits up, looking Kolivan in the eye. “I know. I, I love you, Kolivan.”

Kolivan sighs and presses their foreheads together. “I love you too, menace. More than you know.”

~*~

Keith is there to see them off two vargas later.

“We will see you soon, little one.” Antok tells him, hugging the hybrid tightly.

“You’d better.” The kit mutters, before releasing the lieutenant to hug Thace. 

“Stay safe, kiddo.”

“You too, Papa. No more explosions.”

“Aw, kid! Explosions are my favorite!” Thace teases, ruffling the boy’s hair. “But if you insist.”

Keith rolls his eyes, then turns to hug Kolivan.

“Keep them all in one piece.” 

“I will, menace. And I promise you, even if I cannot actively search, I will keep an eye out for Shiro.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Then Keith turns to Ulaz, who holds up a hand. “Hold on, kit, I’m not going anywhere.”

Keith’s eyes widen. “You, you’re staying?” 

“Of course I’m staying. You would all fall to pieces without me.”

The kit laughs and hugs him anyway. “We would, wouldn’t we?” Ulaz purrs, and glances at Kolivan, raising an eyebrow. The leader nods. He seems to get it now. It’s not just Keith he’s staying for, it’s all the other paladins, the other  _children_  here, they need him too.

Ulaz and Keith watch the shuttle depart the castle until it vanishes, then Keith slips away. Ulaz suspects he knows where the boy is going.

~*~

After his dads leave, Keith goes to the Black Lion’s hangar. He stares at the crumpled form for several minutes before he scents his pack – all of them – appear in the entryway behind him.

One of them approaches, and Keith feels a hand settle on his shoulder.

“Hey, man,” Lance murmurs. “Listen, we  _all_ miss Shiro. Not the way you do, maybe, but he was our friend, and our leader. I remember what a thrill it was just to meet him for the first time when you and I carried him out of that Garrison hospital.”

Hunk and Pidge come up on his other side.

“I grew up with my dad and Matt telling me stories about him. He was a legend in our house. He’s another brother to me, just like you are.” Pidge murmurs, taking his hand.

“The guy taught me everything I know about being a pilot. Which isn’t much, but that’s more on me.” Hunk says shyly.

“You’re not the only one hurting, man.” Lance says. “We’re all right there with you, but you know he would be the first one to tell us that we have to move on.”

Keith looks at the Blue Paladin, then behind him at Allura when she starts to speak.

“Keith, I know exactly how you feel, but our mission is bigger than any one individual. Even those who are completely irreplaceable.”

Keith sighs. “I know you’re right. He’s out there, I know he is, but, we’re going to have to wait to find him, for now.” It hurts to admit. Especially after his argument with Kolivan. “It’s time to figure out how to reform Voltron.”

That is much easier said than done. 

They endlessly bicker about who should be Black Paladin and why, Lance says he would make a terrible one (he’s not wrong, he’s dubbed a “little menace” for a reason) and Ulaz growls them all into silence. 

Then Coran reminds them that the lions are the ones who choose and Keith hisses in frustration. He would prefer she choose  _none of them_ , because she already has Shiro. And if that’s out of the question, then he begs the gods to let it be anyone but him. He can’t do the leader thing. 

Hey look at that, she chooses him. 

When Keith comes out of the lion, the others are looking at him with pride, but Keith just feels numb.

“I’m proud of you, Keith.” Allura says quietly. “Though I wish you were getting the job under better circumstances.”

The others chime in with their own congratulations, but Keith cuts them off with a dull  “I can’t accept this.”

Everyone falls silent and stare at him in shock. And why is it such a big shock? They knew he didn’t want this!

“You must.” Allura says after a moment.

“I can’t replace Shiro! I’m not, I’m not my dads, okay? I’m not a leader! I’m not even all that good at  _following_  orders! I’m not the leader Shiro thought I was.”

Another beat of silence. Then a hand claps his shoulder and he looks up to see Lance giving him an intense look.

“Keith, no one can replace Shiro. But the Black Lion wouldn’t choose anyone it didn’t feel was worthy to lead Voltron. I respect its choice, and you should too.”

“I,” Keith starts, then swallows.

“Kit,” Ulaz says quietly. “Shiro wouldn’t want Voltron to fall to pieces without him. If he were merely injured and unable to pilot the Black Lion, you would do it for him, yes? This is no different. You are doing what you must while he is indisposed.”

Keith looks between Lance and his dad for several long heartbeats, then nods. “Okay.” Although that still leaves them with a problem. “But who’s going to fly the Red Lion?”

Allura tries but Red won’t respond to her. And then they get attacked by Zarkon’s brat of a son.

“Zarkon has a kid??” Hunk shouts after the bastard disconnects the call he’d made and Keith growls.

“Yeah, but we thought he was a non-issue since he’s been fucking banished for over twenty decaphoebs.”

So they deploy in their lions but are down two because Blue is having issues. Then Lance comes out in Red and can’t fly her right (Keith is irrationally annoyed by this) and then for some reason, Allura comes out in Blue and the whole battle is a godsdamned disaster. 

Lotor tries to run but no, Keith isn’t about to let that asshole get away with making his pack upset (and maybe, just maybe, he feels like he has something to prove). 

But he fucked up, because Lotor had known they would follow, and lures them into a trap. Keith should have known something wasn’t right. Should have known better, but he was too angry and upset and fucking blind. And now they’re separated, and the only one he can find is Lance, who is understandably pissed.

 “What happened back there? Where’s the rest of the team?” The Blue – Red, he guesses? – Paladin demands.

“This is all my fault.” Keith whispers. “I led us right into this trap. Everyone warned me, but, I didn’t listen. I put the entire team in jeopardy.”

“Yeah, you kinda did.” Lance sighs. “But now we gotta fix it.”

Keith leans back against his chair. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

They fly in silence for several minutes before Lance speaks again.

“Hey, Keith, you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself.”

“Yes I should.” Keith growls. “We could have fucking died. Shiro would never have fallen for this. None of my dads would have fallen for this.”

“Well, sure.” Lance agrees. “But, you aren’t Shiro or your dads, now are you? You’re your own person who does things your own way. Stop trying to be who you think you should be, and start being who you are. Trust me, we’ll all live a lot longer if you stop thinking you have to be just like them. You’re fine the way you are, dude. Even if you are annoying as hell.”

Keith raises an eyebrow. “That was strangely insightful of you.”

Lance makes a “meh” sound. “I have my moments.”

“Yeah you do.” Keith smiles. “Thanks, Lance.”

“Anytime, buddy.”

Thankfully it doesn’t take long for Allura to master Blue and come find the rest of them. Keith then decides to take Lance’s advice and pushes all thoughts of Shiro or his fathers out of his head. He's his own person. His own leader. How does he want to handle this?

Well, with violence, obviously.

But they also manage to form Voltron so that’s a vote in his favor. It’s very disorienting to be seeing Voltron from the top but he manages, and they all feel better after blasting several battle cruisers to pieces. 

He declines going after Lotor, though. They'll fight him again, when  _they’re_  ready for it.

When they disband and return to the castle, Ulaz is waiting for him in the Black Lion’s hangar with his arms crossed.

Keith swallows thickly. “I’m sorry, I know that was stupid and reckless and dangerous. But, I'm working on it. I’m trying to be- I'm  _going_  to be better.”

Ulaz stares at him for another long moment, then sighs and lets his shoulders relax. “I know, kitling. I know.”

Then the doctor pulls him into a tight hug. Keith sighs and nuzzles into his father’s chest. He’s still shaken and angry and greiving, but he has his pack with him, helping keep him upright. Even when he fucks up, they’re still here, still helping. 

It’s still hard, not having Shiro here, but the other members of his family can keep him afloat until his mate is home again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah Keith. He's learning. And healing. A little.  
> Next chapter has alternate reality shenanigans (joy of joys) and Kuron! Which goes slightly differently in this AU. Mind the tags, my dears~!  
> See you soon!


	3. The Rift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all. NaNoWriMo is kicking my ass but I'm still here and posting! Have some alternate alternate reality bits and Kuron being Tired.

Keith is getting better.

Does he still hate the fact that he’s the Black Paladin? Oh yes, but he’s learning to handle it in his own way. If he gets lost or confused, his dad is there to offer advice, but this is Keith’s show and he’s got to learn how to run it himself.

They have a few minor skirmishes in the week following the disaster that was Thayserix, and those battles go quite a bit better. Allura is getting the hang of being a paladin, and Lance is learning to compensate for Red’s speed.

All in all, they’re settling into their new Voltron formation well enough. But Keith still wants his mate back, dammit. He still searches, when he finds the time. And the few times they’ve boarded a Galra cruiser, he’s gotten Pidge to download all the files she can in hopes of seeing of the Empire knows anything. So far, no luck, but Keith will find Shiro eventually.

He has to.

~*~

One week after their encounter with Lotor, they receive an unusual distress signal that puts both Allura and Coran on edge.

“Uh, Allura?” he asks, turning to look at where she’s standing open-mouthed at the castle’s controls.

“It’s Altean.” She whispers. “It’s an Altean signal.”

Keith raises an eyebrow.

“Are you sure of that?” Ulaz asks, frowning and looking over Coran’s shoulder.

“Positive.” Coran says weakly. “It’s one of King Alfor’s. I’d know it anywhere.”

“Trap.” Keith says bluntly.

“Most likely.” Ulaz hums.

“Keith,”

Keith turns to see Allura’s tense expression. “Do you remember what you said to me? Before we went to the Thaldicon system? When you said that if our positions were reversed and we found information on the Alteans, I’d want to check it out even if I knew they were all gone?”

Keith growls a little. Well, he never thought he’d be eating those words. “Yes.”

“I have to know, Keith.” She says. “Just like you did.”

Keith sighs and slumps down in his chair. “Okay, but I’m gonna throw your words back at you. It could definitely be a trap, because the Empire knows you’d investigate.”

“I’m aware.”

“Alright, well, let’s go, then.”

They travel to the coordinates and find an Altean ship (so at least that part was real) but it’s… stuck. Inside some weird glow-y wormhole. And Allura wants to go in it even if the probe they just sent towards it blew up.

“Keith, _please_.” Allura begs. “I will go alone if I must, but I _must_ know.”

“Gods dammit.” Keith mutters. “No, no, you went with me to get my dad. I’ll go with you into the weird glowing exploding void thing. But if we die, I’m blaming you.”

“Thank you.” She murmurs and hugs him. He sighs and noses at her neck.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you if this all goes to shit.” He mutters.

“I won’t.” She says, smiling.

So they all go. Ulaz pulls him aside and gives him his usual “don’t do anything stupid” speech, but Keith assures him he’s not actually the one wanting to do the stupid thing this time and will get them all out of dodge at the first sign of trouble.

So through the glow-y thing they go. And when they come out of it… the castle is gone, there is a planet that was not there three ticks ago, and there are now life signs aboard the ship.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” He mutters as they descend inside the ship.

“Me too, Han.” Lance mutters.

“What?”

“I cannot believe Shiro never made you watch Star Wars.”

They find the captain, dead on the floor. And find his last video log talking about some sort of comet that had been discovered by King Alfor. Then the ship… whited out?

Something happened, and Allura doesn’t seem happy.

Then they get attacked, as they do.

Then Pidge breaks the mask of one of the assailants and everyone freezes when they see the man’s face.

He’s human, and he looks just like Shiro.

“Shiro?” Hunk whispers, but Keith frowns and inhales deeply. No, not Shiro. Not even close. Their scents are nothing alike.

“Who are you?” He asks, holding his bayard up.

“We will be asking the questions here.” Not Shiro says lowly in a really weird accent.

“Keith, it’s Shiro! And Slav, for some reason.” Lance says incredulously.

“It’s not Shiro.” Keith says. “As for Slav,” He looks at the Bytoran and does a double take. “Oh, wait, that is Slav.” His scent proves it.

“How do you know me?” Slav asks, voice clipped.

“We saved you from a space prison! Don’t you remember?” Lance asks, bewildered.

“You’ve never saved me from anywhere.” The Bytoran huffs. Then his eyes go wide. “Unless,”

“This is an alternate reality!” Pidge exclaims.

Oh no. Keith sighs and dispels his bayard. “Oh, our Slav is gonna have a field day when he hears about this.” He mutters. He looks at Not-Shiro and raises an eyebrow. “Is this one just as obsessed with alternate realities?”

“Oh, that’s him.” The man sighs.

They establish that the two men did not in fact attack the Altean ship, but they say _Alteans_ like Keith says _Haggar,_ so something must be very, very wrong with the Alteans of this reality.

It seems they’re about to find out as the two men exit the room upon learning that Alteans are boarding the ship.

The paladins turn to see the door to the room hissing open, and a troupe of Altean sentries storm in, along with two Alteans and some alien Keith’s never seen before.

“Alteans.” Allura breathes.

The woman stops when she sees them, and her eyes go wide. “It can’t be… Empress Allura?”

Oh boy.

~*~

The woman – General Hirah – takes him and Allura up to the bridge and explains what happened in this reality. Apparently, Allura had taken control after the death of her father and completely wiped out the Galra, implementing the Altean Empire in its stead.

Keith frowns as the woman talks about the everlasting peace the Empire has brought to the races of the galaxy. Her scent is doing something funny that only happens when people are lying through their teeth.

“I don’t trust this, Allura.” He tells her, as the General coaxes the princess towards freeing the ship, but of course Allura does it anyway.

“Keith,” She says, when she sees him fuming. “These are my people. And they may be our best allies against the Empire in our reality.”

“She’s lying, Allura. Her scent is… _wrong_.” He growls. “I wouldn’t trust her as far as I can throw her.”

“My scent?” Hirah asks, narrowing her eyes.

Keith growls lowly and takes a step away from the woman. Her hand moves to a small device on her belt and flips it on and Keith doubles over in agony, clutching at his ears, which have elongated.

“Keith!” Allura shouts.

The hell-noise is turned off and Keith is left panting, ears pressed flat against his skull. Whatever that was had forced his shift.

 _“Galra_.” Hirah snarls, leveling her gun at him. Keith hisses at her and draws his bayard.

“Wait! Hirah, it’s all right, Keith is on our side.” Allura tries to explain.

“There are no good Galra, Empress. You taught us that a long time ago.”

“Allura, I think your people are a little crazy in this reality.” Keith growls, and activates his bayard just in time to deflect Hirah’s shot.

That seems to snap Allura out of it, and she knocks the woman out with her bayard before she can turn.

“I am sorry for not listening to you, Keith.” Allura says.

Keith shrugs. “It’s alright. But we should find the others.”

Then the others come in, bound by the male Altean – who freaks out when he sees Hirah passed out on the floor – and explain that not only are the Alteans crazy, they’re also slavers. Cue explosions curtesy of Slav and Sven, though they weren’t needed.

Keith knocks out the Altean scientist when he starts to issue orders to the sentries, and he collapses to the ground. The sentries pause, unsure of what to do. In the absence of Hirah and the scientist, they turn to Allura, who tells them to stand down.

“You need to get that comet out of here.” Slav says as Keith cuts his bindings, before moving to free the others. “Hirah and the other Alteans would use it to invade other realities.”

They bid the two Guns of Gamora goodbye, leaving them in good spirits. General Hirah makes a good hostage, apparently.

They return to their lions and grab the comet before finding where they’d come through and crossing back to their reality.

Where Lotor is waiting for them.

~*~

“Kit!” Ulaz shouts, voice hoarse. He and Coran have been trying desperately to contact Voltron since they went through the wormhole.

“Coran, anything?” He asks desperately. The Altean is looking equally distressed.

“Still no sign of them.”

“It’s been two vargas!” Ulaz growls. “Where are they??”

As if to answer him, a bright flash of light issues from where the glowing wormhole had vanished a half-varga ago and Voltron emerges, carrying a meteorite of some kind. Before anyone can say anything, the castle is shot at and Voltron is knocked back, a Galra ship snatching the meteorite away from the prone robot and fleeing before they can get their bearings.

“Kit!” Ulaz barks, and a low groan is heard over the comm.

“I really hate that guy.” Keith growls. “Hi, Dad. We’re okay.”

“Oh thank the gods.” Ulaz sighs. “What happened?”

A pause. “Something that’s gonna make Slav giddy when we tell him about it.” Keith says, amused.

Oh dear.

~*~

They recount their mission to Ulaz and Coran, then Pidge and Ulaz head down to Ulaz’s med bay to study the shard of comet they still have.

Lance and Hunk go to get dinner, but Keith makes his way up to the Bridge, where Allura is sitting with her head buried in her knees.

“Allura, you did the right thing. We couldn’t let Hirah get that ore.”

“But now Lotor has it.” She spits.

“You didn’t know.”

“ _You_ knew.” The princess says lowly. “You knew, and I didn’t listen.”

“Hey,” He sits next to her and wraps an arm around her back. “We all screw up, alright? We’ll get it back.”

“But how? Lotor’s always one step ahead of us. He has a plan for that ore, and if he succeeds, the Empire will have a weapon as powerful as Voltron.”

“Well then I guess we’d better stop him.”

Allura smiles faintly and leans against him. “Thank you, Keith.”

“What for?” He asks, nuzzling the top of her head and purring quietly.

“You always know just what to say.”

Keith huffs. “If you say so, ‘Lura.”

~*~

Keith goes out later, in Black, trying to see if she can pick up the trail of the comet. Instead she finds something completely different.

“Is that…?” Keith breathes. “Allura, can you open up a wormhole to the coordinates I’m sending you?”

“Yes, but what is it?”

“Black’s telling me to go.” He says quietly. “It… it might be Shiro.”

She opens a wormhole without further comment.

As soon as Keith goes through, he spies a Galra fighter right in front of him, power completely out. Scans reveal a single life sign, very weak.

“Shiro?” Keith asks over the comm.

A long pause. “Keith.” A familiar voice rasps. Keith sags in relief.

“Oh thank the gods.” He breathes. He gets the fighter in Black’s jaws and gets back to the castle, landing in the hanger and immediately scrambling up the fighter and prying the hatch open, hitting him with the scent of the man inside as well as week old sweat. His nose wrinkles.

Tired gray eyes peer up at him. “Hey, Keith. Thanks for coming to get me.”

Keith frowns and tugs him out of the fighter, steadying him when he starts to sway.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know.” He sighs, leaning against Keith’s side. “The last thing I remember is fighting Zarkon, then I woke up on a Galra station and had to fight my way out. Landed on an icy moon and had to convince some rebels I wasn’t a traitor or a spy. Then I spent a week in a stolen fighter trying to find you.”

“They thought you were a spy?”

“Yeah, said there was no way I could have escaped the Galra otherwise. Told them about before. Told them they’d fired on me and I nearly fell to my death in a ravine as a result. Still didn’t believe me.” He mumbles.

Keith’s nostrils flare and he sighs. “Well, you’re here now. You’re safe.”

“Yeah.” He nuzzles Keith’s shoulder. “Missed you.”

“Shiro!” Someone shouts, and Keith turns to see Pidge running towards them.

“Easy, he’s really weak.” He cautions as the girl scrambles up next to them.

“Keith, Keith we got him, he’s back!” She says, patting at Shiro’s stubbly face.

“Hey, Katie.” He murmurs.

“Don’t disappear again, okay?” She chides but hugs him tight.

She helps get him down to the med bay. Ulaz stands immediately and walks towards them, inhaling sharply.

“Keith…”

“He’s really dehydrated and probably starving.” Keith says, cutting his father off. “Probably need to stick him in a pod but I figured I’d ask you first.”

Ulaz eyes him carefully, then nods. “Yes, a pod might be best. He looks to be on the brink of death.”

They get him up to the pod room and change him into one of the bodysuits. The others all show up then, expressing their relief at Shiro’s return.

Keith sighs as the pod hisses closed and the man is finally allowed to sleep after greeting the others and expressing his relief at seeing them all again.

Keith looks up and catches his father’s eye. Ulaz jerks his head to the side and steps out of the room, Keith begins to follow when he’s stopped by Hunk.

“We got him back.” The Yellow Paladin says happily. “That must be a relief, yeah?”

Keith smiles a little. “Yeah, Hunk, it is.” He claps his friend on the shoulder and follows his father out of the room. They walk back down to the med-bay and Ulaz locks the door behind them.

“Keith,” he says, turning to face his son. “That’s-”

“I know, Dad.” He sighs. “I know that’s not Shiro.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, Haggar didn't really think that one through (in this AU). But he's still a good boy and he tries so very hard so it's fine (until S6). See you Sunday with Kuron and Coalition shenanigans.
> 
> UPDATE: I'm super sorry you guys but my entire family is sick except for me and I'm also working so I've had zero time to do anything! I'll post chapter 4 on Wednesday I swear I just need a little time to get everything in my for-real life situated first!! Thank you for understanding and hope your week's been better than mine!!


	4. The Coalition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi this is late but only by a few minutes so please don't hate me? God this chapter was supposed to be so much longer and I will probably go back and add in what was supposed to be in here later when I am less stressed but I did as much editing as I could so I could get this out to you guys. Hope it's okay!
> 
> EDIT/UPDATE: I am now sick with what my family has. This, plus many other stresses in my life, leads me to the conclusion that I really have to cut down to once a week posts. I hope you all understand. I don't have enough energy for a whole new chapter but I added almost another 1k to this chapter so it's slightly more content than you had before. I promise chapter 5 will be out next Wednesday. Have a good week.

The next day is spent with most of the castle celebrating Shiro’s return. Keith and Ulaz spend the day trying to figure out what _actually_ stumbled onto their ship.

“He can’t be, like, pure evil or Black wouldn’t have picked him up.” Keith reasons.

“Very true.” Ulaz hums, pacing around the med bay with a pensive frown. “So what is he? He’s not Shiro, his scent tells us that much.”

“Yeah, but it’s _similar_.” Keith points out. “Just off enough that we can tell because we know his scent well, but anyone who’d only met him briefly wouldn’t be too suspicious.”

“So he’s some sort of spy.”

“Maybe. But I don’t think he knows that.”

Ulaz gives him a skeptical look. “How did you come to that conclusion?”

“When I was interrogating him yesterday, he mentioned the rebels who helped him thought he was a spy.” Keith says, “But when I asked him about it, he told me he had no idea why they would think that. His heartbeat was completely steady. And it was steady when he mentioned missing all of us. As far as he’s aware, Dad, he is the real Shiro.”

Ulaz sighs and sinks into his chair, rubbing his forehead. “This is going to be very complicated, then.”

“You’re telling me.” Keith sighs.

“What are you going to do, kit?”

Keith frowns and leans back against the wall. “I have no idea.”

~*~

Keith spends the next quintant trying to figure out what he wants to do in regards to his mate’s clone suddenly appearing. His father is right in that the man is probably here, so the witch can spy on them but… he doesn’t know that. Keith can’t blame him for being an unwitting piece in her game.

He knows one thing for sure: he’s not going to kill the clone. Everything else… well, he’ll figure that out later.

Right now he’s standing in front of the pod as it hisses open and catches the clone – Shiro, he supposes, for the time being – as he falls.

“Keith?” Shiro says weakly.

“Hey. You’re okay.” Keith soothes. “Feeling a little better?”

Shiro hums faintly. “Tired.”

“Not surprising. Come on.” He gets one of the man’s arms over his shoulders and walks them towards his and Original Shiro’s room. When they get there, Keith strips him out of the white body suit and gets him in to a pair of soft pants and a tank top, then bundles him under the covers, curling up against his side and purring quietly to soothe the agitation he can detect coming from the man.

“You’re safe.” Keith assures.

“I know, I just… it’s hard to believe this isn’t a dream. That I’m really back with you again.”

“I’m here.” Keith assures. “Sleep, Shiro. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Shiro sighs and closes his eyes. He drifts off not long after. Keith messages his dad and lets him know that for now, he’s going to pretend this is in fact the real Shiro until he can figure out how to let the others know (and have them not completely lose their collective shit).

The next morning, after Shiro wakes, he asks the other man what he can remember about the facility where he was found. Maybe it could give him and Ulaz some clues about his programming and how to disable it. he can’t tell Keith much, but what little he does remember, Keith makes note of to tell his dad later in the day.

“When you’re feeling up to it, the others would love to see you.” Keith tells him. “We’ll be on the bridge when you’re ready.” He squeezes Shiro’s shoulder and walks towards the door.

“Keith?”

Keith turns back and chirps in question.

Shiro smiles tiredly. “How many times are you going to have to save me before this is over?”

Keith returns the smile with one of his own. “As many times as it takes.”

After he exits the room, he makes his way towards his dad in the med bay and relays what Shiro told him.

“I’ll see if I can find us any useful information.” Ulaz promises.

Keith then returns to the bridge and sits with everyone until Shiro arrives a little while later, hair cut and face freshly shaved.

“Hey, you’re looking better.” Lance says. “How are you feeling.”

“Good, just trying to get rid of this weird headache.”

Keith frowns at that. “You should ask my dad to look you over. Make sure the Empire didn’t screw with your head.”

“Again.” Shiro adds, grinning. “I will, I promise.”

Then they look for Lotor. And find him. Keith tries to see if Black will let Shiro pilot, but she shuts him out. Keith was afraid if that, but it seems for now he’ll have to continue on as the Black Paladin. Joy of joys.

They get planet side (after the startling revelation that for some reason the Empire were attacking their own base; a message to Kolivan had confirmed that there were no Blades in the area so, who knows what’s going on there) and find the comet. Which is now a ship. Keith is very annoyed and ready to kill the son of a bitch, but no, the clone disagrees and wants to take out the ship, and of course since the others think he’s Shiro (and Shiro leads better) they side with him. Keith growls in frustration but is forced to follow the rest of his pack out of the ship and back towards their speeders.

And that’s when they get jumped by enemy forces. There’s one with a super long tail and a cat for some reason, an orange haired one who tries to pin him and fails, a huge one who wants to fight Allura and…

Oh.

“It’s you.” Keith says, stunned. He and the woman are in close quarters, weapons locked together, and Keith catches her scent. It’s the soldier from the weblum. “Well, glad you’re okay.”

She looks at him, startled. “Really? You do realize I’m trying to kill you right now, right?”

Keith shrugs. “Yeah, well, so do a lot of people. I try not to take it personally anymore.”

Before she can respond to that, he knocks her off balance and he and the others get the void out of dodge.

Cue them getting their asses kicked by the strange new ship, Shiro being extremely contradictory in his orders, and Keith deciding _fuck everything_ and getting the comet ship to blow up the thing Lotor was trying to steal from the base: a piece of the giant teludav that they used to fuck Zarkon’s base up.

By the time they get back to the castle, Keith is very, very tired. He changes into his civvies and goes to cool down in one of the observation decks.

Shiro finds him not long after.

“I’m sorry I had to step in back there.” He says quietly, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder.

Keith growls quietly. “I thought I had it under control.”

“You have to learn to pick your battles. Sometimes, you need to make hard choices.”

Keith sighs and lets his muscles go lax under the clone’s touch. Even if it is different, his scent is still close enough to Shiro’s to be soothing. “I’m no good at this.” He mutters.

“Yes, you are. It was your quick thinking that kept Lotor from getting away with the teludav.” Shiro assures him, tugging on Keith’s shoulder to get him to face the other man. “You’re gonna get there. the Black Lion has chosen you. I’m proud of you, Keith.”

Keith sighs and leans against him. “Thanks.”

The Black Lion hasn’t chosen him, though. She’s just making do with him because she doesn’t have the Original Shiro right now. But of course Keith can’t say that, so he just nuzzles into the side of Shiro’s neck and tries to forget about this disaster of a day.

~*~

The next day Coran tells them the story of Zarkon’s downfall, and Ulaz relays it to the Blades in case any of this is new information that could be of help. Then Kolivan and Shiro (they have, at least, informed Keith’s other dads of the clone situation, but then again, Kolivan and Antok would have figured it out anyway) decide they need to make a base of operations and start gathering refugees. When they contact Ryner, she is more than happy to host the newly formed “Voltron Coalition” on Olkarion.

Keith throws himself at his dads as soon as they land, scrambling up onto Antok’s back and staying there as Kolivan and Ulaz catch each other up on what’s happening.

“You’re sure he’s a clone? He seemed the same as ever during the video call.” Kolivan says, frowning.

“We’re certain.” Ulaz confirms. “His scent is far too different for it to be mood shifts or environmental factors.”

Thace sighs and crosses his arms. “Guess I’m gonna have to wait longer to meet the guy, huh?”

“As far as he knows, he is Shiro.” Keith points out. “So it’s sort of like you’re meeting the original.”

“Fair enough.”

Kolivan frowns and turns to Keith. “You have not told the other paladins?”

Keith shakes his head. “Not yet. Now that we’re settled, I’m gonna take them aside one by one and clue them in, but, Kolivan, he has no idea he’s a spy. I refuse to let him be killed for something he can’t control.”

Kolivan huffs and crosses his arms. “Well, see what the rest of your pack says. Especially Allura. If she thinks it’s too dangerous…”

Keith growls and tightens his grip on Antok’s shoulders. Kolivan just sighs.

“Why do I even bother?” The Blade Leader mutters. “In any event, now might be a good time to continue your Blade training, now that Thace and Antok are both available. If Voltron allows, I may even take you on a mission or two.”

Keith perks up, eyes going wide and excited. “I get to go on missions with you!?”

“If,” Kolivan says sharply, holding up a hand, “you behave yourself and _do what I tell you_.”

“For the most part, anyway.” Thace adds. When Kolivan glares at him, Thace shrugs. “Come on, Kolivan, I don’t listen to you half the time and you still let me go on missions. Don’t make it a double standard for our kid, okay?”

“Fine.”

Keith is ecstatic. He finally gets to be a proper Blade!

But before he can focus on that, he needs to tell his pack that Shiro isn’t Shiro.

Oh boy.

~*~

He grabs Pidge right before they go to bed a few nights later and pulls her into his room.

She takes it… well.

“He’s not Shiro!?” She hisses.

“Yeah, how do you think I felt?” Keith grumbles. “Look, he has no idea he’s a clone. As far as he knows, he is Shiro. My dad is trying to figure out if he can subvert whatever programming Haggar gave him, but so far no luck. Look, he’s…. it’s not his fault, okay? He doesn’t deserve to be locked up or killed for this, Katie. So until Dad figures something out, we’re just gonna have to keep an eye on him.”

Surprisingly, Pidge nods. “Yeah, it would be really shitty to blame him. No one asks to be born, after all.” She looks up at Keith and smiles. “Count me in.”

Hunk… does not take it as well.

“He’s gonna kill us!” The Yellow Paladin squeaks.

“He’s _not_.” Keith sighs. “At least… not right now? He doesn’t even know he’s not Shiro, Hunk. He’s not gonna attack people he thinks are his friends unless Haggar brainjacks him or something. My dad is trying to figure out how to stop her if she does but until then we should keep acting normal around him, for his own sake.”

Hunk nods slowly. “Okay. Okay, so, don’t make possibly-homicidal-not-Shiro upset. Got it.”

Keith opens his mouth to object, then closes it slowly and sighs, nodding. “You know what? Good enough.”

Lance… freaks out.

“Where the hell is Shiro then!? Is this one gonna kill us??”

“Shut up,” Keith hisses. “Not right now.” He says when Lance cools off. “He thinks he’s Shiro. He cares about all of us. Unless Haggar overrides Shiro’s memories, he’s gonna act exactly how Original Shiro would act if he was here with us.” Keith pauses, considering. “For the most part, anyway.”

“Alright.” Lance says slowly, nodding. “So, we’re out-spying the spy by pretending we don’t know he’s a spy because he himself doesn’t know he’s a spy?”

“Sure.”

Lance nods. “Gotcha. Don’t worry, secret’s safe with me!”

Judging by the way Lance greets Shiro the next morning with “Hello Shiro who is definitely Shiro!” Keith doubts that highly. It’s a damn good thing all Shiros seem to be used to tuning Lance out.

Coran and Allura actually consider the repercussions, as Keith figured they would.

“Keith, if Haggar does take control of him…”

“It will be very bad.” Keith summarizes. “I _know_ , Allura but... I can’t kill him.”

“Because he looks like your mate.” She says gently.

Keith nods. “That, and, can we really blame him for something he had no control over? For something he doesn’t even know about? What kind of people would we be if we condemned him to death for those reasons?”

Allura sighs and leans back. “I understand, and I agree. But Keith, this is very dangerous.”

“I know.”

“We will have to watch Shiro very carefully.” Coran muses, stroking his mustache thoughtfully. “At the first sign of anything funny, we can place him into one of the cells and explain to him what’s going on. Until then, I agree with Keith that we keep this from him. Not only would it greatly upset him, but it might prompt Haggar into triggering whatever programming he has early, before we have a chance to counter it.”

“Then it is agreed.” Allura says, nodding. “We will watch, and wait, and hope that maybe… this will all turn out okay.”

Keith sighs and leans back in his chair. “Gods, I hope so.”

~*~

Thankfully everyone seems to be able to keep their cool around the clone – Shiro, still, for lack of anything else to call him – and he doesn’t suspect a thing.

Surprisingly, given the way they’d reacted initially, Hunk still treats him the same as he treated him before. When Keith asks, Hunk shrugs.

“You said he doesn’t know he’s not Shiro, right? So for all intents and purposes, he is Shiro.”

Katie on the other hand, is borderline hostile.

One evening, after Shiro casually asks how her search for Matt is going, she snaps at him to mind his own goddamn business and storms out of the room. Shiro looks like a kicked puppy in response.

“Don’t worry about it, Shiro,” Keith says gently, squeezing his hand. “She’s probably just hit a snag and is frustrated.”

Shiro sighs and leans against him. “I know. I shouldn’t have asked. If she’d found something she would have said.”

Keith purrs and kisses the top of the clone’s head. “I’ll go check on her.”

He disentangles himself from the impromptu pack pile he and the other paladins had made on the sofa and goes in search of the Green Paladin. He finds her in the Green Lion’s hanger.

“Katie?”

She mutters something under her breath and continues to tap away on her keyboard, not looking up from the screen.

“Katie,”

“I know.” She grumbles. “I know, okay? It’s not his fault. He’s not the one who’s keeping the real Shiro away from us, but.. it’s _hard_ , Keith. It’s hard to be around him, having him act exactly like our Shiro and knowing he’s _not_. It’s hard to watch you have to pretend to love him when I know you’re still missing your _real_ mate so _badly_.”

“I’m not pretending as much as you think I am.” Keith says gently, sitting next to her and nuzzling her shoulder. “He’s pack, after all.”

“Really? Already? He’s only been around for a few weeks.”

“It only took me meeting Hunk once to adopt him.” Keith points out.

“Fair enough.”

“Katie,” Keith says, turning her to face him, “I appreciate that you’re worried about me. And duh, of course I miss the original Shiro, but I care about this one too, so try not to be so hard on him, okay?”

She sighs and leans back in her chair. “Okay.”

~*~

The coalition is growing, and with it, more help for Voltron. Which means the bigger the coalition, the more he can go out with the Blade.

Kolivan and Thace take him on loads of infiltration and sabotage missions. His small size is helpful for getting into the vents and other hard to reach places. When this is pointed out, Kolivan shudders.

“Oh gods not the vents again.”

“That was one time, Kolivan.” Keith sighs.

“Yes, one time… by accident.” The leader snarls. “You did it plenty more times on purpose.”

“Fair enough.”

On one such mission, Keith meets a new Blade who only joined up a few cycles before Keith returned to the base.

“Regris.” The new guy introduces himself. “And you need no introduction, Keith Kogane.”

“Yeah yeah, paladin of Voltron and idiot who fought Zarkon single-handed.” Keith mutters.

Regris tilts his head in consideration. “Well I don’t know about that, but, I was referring to how all the Senior Blades can’t shut up about you. You’re the Leader’s son, after all. You’re kind of a legend to us newbies.”

Keith raises an eyebrow and looks up at Kolivan. “What?”

Kolivan rubs his forehead. “Trust me, it baffles me every day.”

~*~

Regris is a lot of fun and Keith ends up really liking him. They have similar reckless streaks which makes Ulaz bitch them both out constantly. He’s spending a lot of time with the new generation of Blades, telling them stories of his hectic youth and how he gave his fathers no end of grief. In fact, he’s spending more time with the Blade than with Voltron these days.

The other paladins don’t mind. They get that he’s spending time with the family he had to leave behind for three years. Shiro disapproves – quietly so, but Keith can smell it on him. He tells Keith that he needs to make sure he’s available to be the Black Paladin whenever Voltron is needed.

“Why don’t you just do it?” Keith asks, and the other man sighs.

“We’ve been over this. The Black Lion chose you.”

Keith rolls his eyes. “Maybe she was just giving you the cold shoulder for abandoning her for so long. Didn’t Mochi do that whenever you came back from the Garrison?”

“I doubt the giant sentient robot lion has temper-tantrums equivalent to those of an Earth house cat.” Shiro deadpans.

“You never know.” Keith hums, then kisses the clone’s cheek and ducks out the door. “See you in a few days!”

“This conversation isn’t over, Keith!” Shiro yells after him.

Yeah, Keith guesses it really isn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Kuron. Precious boy.  
> Sorry about nothing actually happening but I am exhausted and I promise I will edit this to make it longer. Probably won't be able to post another whole chapter on Sunday because everything around here is still so stressful, but I will update this chapter so that's still new content I guess?  
> Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate it and I'll see you later.


	5. The Split

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Here's chapter 5 as promised. I'm so sorry for the hectic-ness of the last few weeks. but my family is getting better and so am I. I'm still going to wait until next Wednesday to post Chapter 6 because I am still dealing with other things but I'm feeling a lot better and I'm sorry for the staggered posting Part 5 has been subjected to. Hope you enjoy!

Keith arrives back from a mission to find Shiro standing on the bridge, coordinating supply lines. He snaps at Keith to go aid the others when Keith tries to tell him about the quintessence, and Keith growls in frustration before storming off to the Black Lion.

When he arrives to assist the others, they can tell he’s on edge.

“Well look who finally showed up.” Lance teases, but only gets a snarl in response.

“Keith?” Pidge asks quietly.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” He hisses.

When they get back to Olkarion, he and Shiro end up getting into another fight about the position of Black Paladin and Keith goes off to sulk on the roof of one of the high buildings in the city.

“Kiddo?”

Keith huffs and buries his face in his knees as Thace comes up behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“He’s infuriating.”

Thace huffs and sits next to him, pulling him into a side-hug. “Yeah? What happened?”

“I keep trying to push him to try piloting Black again, so I can come with you guys on that mission to find the quintessence, but he won’t have it. It’s so frustrating, I could just-” He makes an agitated noise in the back of his throat.

Thace laughs. “Gods, you sound just like Ulaz.”

Keith turns his head to look at his father, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh kid, you know he bitches me out just like that all the damn time.” Thace points out. “Besides, he’s not the real Shiro, so what makes you think he can fly Black to begin with?”

“Black brought me to him for a reason.” Keith sighs, leaning against his father. “She must believe he’s still enough like Shiro to matter, or else she would have just left him out there to die.”

Thace hums contemplatively. “Fair point. So, what, you’re trying to force him into the roll by not being there?”

“That’s the plan.” Keith sighs.

“You know that could end badly if you’re not there at a crucial time.” Thace warns.

“I know. But I told the others what I’m trying to do, and we worked on a way for them to get in touch with me when I’m off planet. It’s still risky, but less so than it would have been if they were still in the dark about the clone thing.”

“Let’s hope this all works out for you, kid.”

“Yeah.” Keith sighs. “Let’s hope.”

~*~

Turns out he needn’t have bothered hoping because it happened anyway.

To be fair, he’d been having a really shitty week. A few days before, he, Kolivan and Regris had gone to plant a tracker on a cargo ship to try and figure out where the new quintessence was coming from. The place was abandoned, but even though Kolivan insisted they leave, he and Regris wanted to plant the tracker anyway.

“I’ll check the logs.” Regris says, going towards the main console. But then the screen flashes, and Kolivan hisses.

“It’s a trap.”

“It’s gonna blow!” Keith yells. “Regris, come on!”

“I might be able to disable it,” the other man says, fingers darting across the screen.

Keith growls. “Fuck that, come on! This isn’t worth your life!”

Regris hesitates, then turns and sprints towards them. The door to the bridge closes behind them just as the place explodes. Keith ends up drifting alone, trying to figure out where the others are. He spies the ship off to the side and begins jetting towards it, making it through the doors just as they close.

Keith braces himself on his hands and knees, panting raggedly for a moment, before he’s pulled up and into a pair of strong arms.

“Keith, gods, you’re okay?” Kolivan says raggedly. “Please, please tell me you’re okay.”

“M’fine.” He mutters, nuzzling his father’s neck. “Regris?”

“Here.”

Keith glances up to see the other man slumped against the wall.

“No casualties. Woo.” Keith huffs.

“Never, ever do that again. I thought, I thought I’d lost you.” Kolivan whispers.

Keith smiles a little. “You know, you’re not supposed to care about me more than any other Blade.”

“In theory.” Kolivan confirms. “But Keith, you’re my son. I can’t be objective when it comes to you.”

“It compromises the mission.” Keith mumbles.

“ _Damn_ the mission.” Kolivan snarls. “You’re more important to me.”

“That doesn’t really bode well for me going on more missions, does it?” Keith hums.

“Hush, menace.”

When they get back to Olkarion, Kolivan takes Regris to get looked after and Keith stumbles into the castle. Shiro had chewed him out for not being around – again – and when Keith had very calmly explained that he’d almost died earlier and wasn’t in the mood for a fight, Shiro had looked distraught.

He fussed over Keith that night – which was nice – but the next day, he’d turned hostile again when Keith said he had to go on another mission.

“Keith you can’t just keep leaving!”

“You guys are doing just fine without me.” Keith drawls as he pulls on his suit.

“But what happens if something comes up? You are the Black Paladin! You have to be here for Voltron!”

Keith turns to him and raises an eyebrow. “You’re the Black Paladin too, you know.”

“No, I’m not!” Shiro snaps. “We’ve been over this so many times, Keith! Black won’t let me in.”

“If you’d just try again,” Keith huffs, but Shiro cuts him off.

“This isn’t up for discussion! You need to be here for Voltron. You need to sort out your loyalties before someone gets hurt!”

Keith’s eyes flash yellow and he shoves Shiro back against the wall, lips pulled back in a snarl. “Careful, Shirogane.” He growls lowly. “If you’re trying to imply that I need to choose between Voltron and my _fathers_ , I will choose them, every time. So don’t push me.”

He lets Shiro go and stalks out of the room, headed towards the Blade ship.

While they’re on their recon mission, he gets a message from Pidge. They need help. The inevitable happened and as soon as he tells Kolivan and Thace, his papa gives him a significant look.

“I’ll take you back.” He says.

But by the time they get to Olkarion, the others are back. Keith walks onto the bridge to see the others decked out in their paladin armor. Shiro included.

Shiro is glaring daggers at him, and the others look uneasy. Ulaz looks like he’s getting ready to bite Shiro’s head off. Keith sighs.

“I heard about what happened. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

“This is exactly what I was afraid of!” Shiro snaps. “The whole sector was in danger!”

“Well it’s fine now, because, hey, you’re Black Paladin again, just like I _told you_ you were.” Keith says drily.

That brings Shiro up short, blinking owlishly at Keith. “That’s why you’ve been pulling away?” He asks quietly. “To try and force me to be the Black Paladin again?”

“Yeah, that’s part of it.” Keith says.

Even the others look surprised at that. “Part of it? What’s the other part?” Hunk asks.

Keith frowns and looks down at his folded arms. “The Blades have been making real headway tracking the source of this new quintessence. They’ve been able to piece together a large network of hidden supply lines that have been secretly transporting it for, who knows how long. And there’s good reason to believe it could lead us directly to Lotor.”

He looks back up at all of them. “A mission is being planned to infiltrate the supply line. It could take weeks, maybe months to pull off but, if there is a chance, we have to take it. I need to be on that mission.”

“Kolivan didn’t mention this to me.” Ulaz says, frowning.

“You need to be here.” Keith says. “The refugees and the Paladins need you, Dad. Besides, you can’t tell me you wouldn’t have said you’d stay here, even if Kolivan had told you about it.”

Ulaz huffs and crosses his arms. “Fair enough.”

He looks back at Shiro again. “Shiro, you are the rightful leader of this team. And you proved it today by reconnecting with the Black Lion. It was always meant to be yours. You guys need to focus on being Voltron, and I need to focus on being a Blade. At least for a little while.”

Shiro sighs and takes a step forward. “I’m sorry. I,”

“You fucked up.” Keith deadpans. “It’s okay. I still love you.”

Shiro laughs shakily and pulls him into a hug. “If this is what you feel is right, then we won’t try to stop you. But just know that we’re here for you whenever you need us.”

Keith purrs and nuzzles against the other man’s neck, scenting him gently. “I know you are, and I can’t tell you how much that means to me.”

“I can’t be left out of this!” Hunk sobs, then suddenly his pack is piling in around the two of them. Katie and Lance at his back, Allura and Coran to their sides, and Hunk squeezing both of them. Ulaz reaches over the tangle of bodies, ruffling his hair gently.

“We’re really going to miss you!” Pidge chokes, gripping Keith tighter.

“Yeah, who am I gonna make fun of?” Lance huffs, amusement and worry sparking through the air.

“I know you’ll make us proud.” Allura says gently.

“Be careful, kit.” Ulaz says.

“I love you guys.” Keith says. “And I promise I’ll come home periodically.

“Good.” Pidge growls.

They all walk with him to the pod bay to see him off. Ulaz tugs Thace into a hug and threatens him with grievous bodily harm if anything happens to Keith or himself. Thace laughs and kisses Ulaz quiet.

“Please be safe.” Shiro implores.

“I promise.” Keith leans up and kisses the clone gently. “You too, yeah?”

“I promise.”

The others hug him individually. Pidge won’t let go.

“Katie, I promise I’m not gonna get lost in space, okay?” He purrs, nuzzling her hair. “And I swear we’ll keep an eye out for your dad and Matt.”

“And we’ll keep an eye on… things. Here.” She says quietly.

“I know you will.”

When he and Thace arrive at the temporary base, Antok and Kolivan are waiting.

“Let’s get to work, menace.” Kolivan tells him.

Keith grins and climbs up on Antok’s shoulders gleefully. “Yes, sir!”

~*~

The reality of the mission is a lot more boring than the idea of it. They mostly just hack into and monitor communications. Most of the time, he and Regris end up sitting on the floor playing Kanzaant. Thace joins them on occasion.

It’s fun, though, in its own way. Keith ends up training some of the new recruits. They scoff at his tiny stature, then freak the fuck out when he manages to knock them on their asses. Antok is very proud.

He’s also getting to spend a lot of time with his dads, which is nice after not having been with them much in recent years. And Antok cooks every night. Keith is in heaven.

Two weeks after he arrived at the temp base, he gets a communication from Olkarion from Pidge.

_Get your butt back here, Kogane. I found my idiot brother._

Keith can’t get to Olkarion fast enough.

~*~

Pidge watches her brother coo over the tech in the castle and the lions, smiling faintly and pushing up her glasses. One down, one to go. Well, two, technically, since Real Shiro is still MIA.

The door behind them opens and Ulaz strides in, reading a data pad. “Pidge, a moment?”

“Holy shitballs!” Matt squawks, jumping back.

Ulaz raises an eyebrow. “Hello Matthew Holt.” He looks over at Pidge. “A moment?”

“Why is there a Galra here, Katie!?” Matt wheezes.

“You haven’t heard of the Blade of Marmora?” She asks incredulously.

Matt blinks rapidly. “Oh. Yeah. Right.”

Ulaz rolls his eyes. “I am Ulaz, CMO for the Blade, and liaison to Voltron.”

“Uh, hey.”

Pidge suddenly perks up. “Oh, right, he’s also K-”

“ _Matthew Holt!!”_ A voice shouts, and then the door snaps open.

Keith is standing there, fuming, eyes glowing yellow.

“K, Keith?” Matt sputters. “You’re here?”

“Come here.” Keith snarls, stalking forwards. “Come here you _son of a bitch-!”_

Matt yelps as Keith grabs him, yanking him into a rib-cracking hug.

“I’m so fucking glad you’re alright.” Keith murmurs, nuzzling Matt’s neck. “Gods, we’ve been so worried…”

Matt sags into the hold and wraps his own arms around Keith. “It’s good to see you too, string bean.”

Keith huffs a laugh and pulls back, eyeing Matt critically. “You’re okay?”

“Yeah, yeah man, I’m good.” Matt tilts his head as he studies Keith in return. “You got taller. And… uh, why are you wearing Galra gear?”

“It’s a Blade of Marmora suit.” Keith says, shrugging.

Matt frowns. “Why are you wearing a Blade suit? Aren’t they an all Galra organization?”

Keith blinks. “Yes.”

Matt still looks puzzled, so Keith sighs and steps back.

“I’ve got news for you, Holt. You know how you always called me a giant cat?” Keith closes his eyes and lets his shift take over, ears elongating and pointing, fur emerging, fingernails lengthening into claws. He opens his bright yellow eyes and grins, revealing fangs. “You were partially right.”

Matt’s jaw drops. “I, wh, you,”

Keith snorts and crosses his arms. “I’m half-Galra. This,” he jerks his chin over his shoulder towards Ulaz, “is my dad. My papa and my other two fathers are also in the Blade.”

Silence.

Then,

“WHAT THE FUCK!?”

Keith sighs and shifts back as Matt keeps sputtering. “Holy shit, holy shit, this, this makes so much sense. That’s why you never knew about anything and why you had such high sim scores and why you were always so snuggly and seemed to know what we were thinking and why you were so goddamn twitchy about us going to Kerberos and _oh fuck_ does Shiro know he’s dating a space furry? The real Shiro? Yeah they told me about the clone thing and that we’re not telling him because he’s a poor lost child and is trying so hard but holy _shit_ , Keith!”

Keith laughs. “Yeah, he knows. I told him the first summer I was on Earth.”

“Why didn’t you tell us??” Matt shrieks. “Did you not trust us?”

“I would have.” Keith says. “Eventually. But I was terrified enough when I told Shiro, okay? One step at a time.”

“Dude.” Matt says, shaking his head. “This is so nuts.”

“Tell me about it.” Pidge cuts in. “We all flipped our shit when he told us.”

“What odd expressions humans have.” Ulaz notes. “But I digress, Pidge I do need you to take a look at these numbers and make sure everything looks to be in order.”

“Yeah, sure, doc.”

Ulaz dips his head in thanks, then leans down to kiss the top of Keith’s head. “Tell the others I said hello, kitling.”

“I will, Dad.” Keith promises. Then Ulaz and Pidge leave the two boys to catch up.

~*~

Keith is beyond happy that Matt is safe. And was thrilled to see him freak out about his nature. Now all he has to do is tell the rest of the Shiroganes, and all his pack will know, he muses.

Things are still slow on their end. He and Thace go on a couple sabotage missions, just to shake things up a bit, but for the most part it’s still just listening to radio chatter.

Slav is around, which Keith is happy about. He helps the inventor repair the Blade ships whenever he has a spare moment. When he tells the Bytoran about Clone Shiro, he looks thoughtful.

“Where did you find him? Did he have long hair? Is he missing his right eye?”

Keith raises an eyebrow. “Found him in a Galra fighter drifting in space after a week of trying to chase us down. Yes, his hair was super long. No, he’s still got both eyes.”

Slav nods curtly. “Then this is one of the realities where you get the real one back.”

Keith sighs in relief. “Thanks, Slav.”

Slav pats his knee. “It’s not going to be easy, Keith, but you will see your Shiro again.”

“That’s all I need.” He says, smiling, then finishes helping Slav rewire the circuits.

~*~

“Kid, kiddo, Keith, you have _got_ to come see this.”

Keith wanders out of his room and over to where Thace and Antok are sitting on the sofa.

“What’s up, Papa?”

“It would seem your friends are famous.” Antok rumbles, amusement pouring off of him in waves.

Keith frowns and moves closer. “Well, yeah? They’re the paladins of Voltron, why wouldn’t they be famous?”

“No, it’s,” Thace breaks down into laughter and hands Keith the tablet he and Antok had been looking at. Keith takes it and looks at the screen. His eyes go wide, and he to bursts into laughter.

“What the fuck is this!?” He chokes.

“The Voltron Show.” Antok deadpans.

“I love this. Holy shit.”

He and Antok and Thace end up marathoning all previously aired episodes. Regris, Ilun and Vrek join them at some point. Even Kolivan peers over to see what they’re all doing.

They end up watching it every day. It’s hilarious and Keith can’t help but tease his pack over the absurdity of it all.

_Keith: What the fuck is the gnazarian coefficient?????_

_Pidge: Shut the fuck up Kogane._

_Keith: Where in the void did you learn how to aerial dance? A Galra prison?_

_Lance: You’re just jealous the ladies love me :P_

_Keith: I told you to lay off the tornak beans, man. They’ll destroy your intestines. What did I tell you._

_Hunk: Please stop oh god._

_Keith: You’re my favorite, Keith._

_Allura: Shut up._

_Keith: So in character._

_Keith: Shiro the Hero, huh? Do you have to save a damsel in distress? Do you have to do it shirtless? Does Coran make you oil up so you glisten? Will you glisten for me, Takashi?_

_Shiro: I love you more than life itself and I will do whatever you want for the rest of our lives if you swear to me you will never again use the word “glisten” in my presence._

 

Despite everything else going on, Keith’s having a good time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the best I could do with having Keith be doing things and stuff in the Blade. But whatever. I got it done. Also Regris was kept alive by the specific request of Drag0nBairn. Hope you are pleased by his continued survival, my dear.  
> Next chapter is Naxella and all the fun stuff that comes with that. (Who wants to takes bets on who freaks out more: Pidge, Shiro, or Ulaz?) See you next Wednesday!


	6. The Sacrifice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late in the day (night). I've had a weird few days. I'm trapped in my house by over a foot of snow. But here it is! The final chapter of the very hectic part 5! Have some Naxella and a litte Keith Angst! What a rare and unusual thing to see in my writing! I never ever write Keith Angst, right guys?  
> Have fun!

It’s hard, sometimes, being away from his pack.

Its great having three out of four of his dads with him all the time, and he loves Regris and Ilun and Vrek, but he misses his humans. He misses his Alteans and his dad. He misses the lions and the steady hum of the castle droning away in the back of his mind.

He misses Shiro. Both of them. Very badly.

That’s why when they get a video call from Voltron a few weeks after his last visit (he’d kept that promise, he visits them at least once a month) he hops up on Kolivan’s shoulders with a grin, seeing them all on the screen.

“Menace, down.” Kolivan huffs.

“Why?”

“I’m in a meeting!”

Keith levels his father with an unamused look. “Yeah, a meeting with my pack. Who don’t give a damn if I’m riding around on your shoulders and listening in.”

“Language, kit.” Ulaz huffs, crossing his arms, then glances at Kolivan with a raised eyebrow. “Though he does have a point.”

Kolivan sighs and rubs his hands over his face. “Why do I even bother.” He mutters. “Fine. You wanted to talk about something, Shiro?”

Shiro, who had been smiling fondly up at Keith, shakes his head a little and clears his throat. “Right. Well, we have an idea, but we’d need the Blade’s support.”

“What idea?”

So Shiro tells them about the line of planets they’ve managed to capture, and if they capture the last, Naxella, they will be able to take a third of the Empire back. Kolivan listens to Shiro and Pidge and Ulaz as they give their tactical evaluation and attack plan, then nods.

“That seems plausible. I will gather a group of Blades and brief them on the plan. When is this happening?”

“Two quintants from now.” Shiro says.

“Understood. We will be in contact once we are ready.”

The feed cuts out and Kolivan looks up at Keith with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, I’m going.” Keith says.

A message pops up on the screen from Ulaz.

_Tell Keith he’s not going._

“How does he _do_ that?” Keith mutters.

“He’s your father.” Kolivan says. “And you will actually be going with us. You know Galra circuitry better than anyone and if we need to hack into the Xyforge cannon, you’ll be sorely needed.”

Keith beams and kisses Kolivan’s cheek. “Love you, Kolivan!”

Kolivan growls a little and swipes at Keith’s head as he ducks away. “Love you too, menace. Be ready to move in two quintants.”

“Yes sir!” Keith chirps, then goes to tell Thace and Antok about the upcoming plans.

~*~

Two days later, their boots land on Senthama. He, his fathers, and a few other Blades move swiftly through the close trees and low hanging vines, headed for the cannon facility unseen. He can hear snatches of the rebels and Voltron’s progress as they move but for the most part, he focuses on trying not to trip over exposed tree roots.

When they’re ten dobashes away from the canon, the comm in his ear crackles harshly.

“Blades! We’re in trouble! What’s the status of your cannon?” Captain Olia shouts. Then, with the sound of laser fire in the background she repeats, “Blades!”

“Copy, Olia, we’re in route.” Keith says quietly, then glances at Kolivan, who nods.

“Let’s move.” The Blade leader says gruffly, and they speed up their pace until they reach the facility. There are only a handful of sentries guarding the outside, which they dispatch quickly. Upon arriving in the control center, the other sentries are disposed of while Antok knocks out the Empire soldier that had been manning the controls.

Keith scrambles over the metal remains of the sentries and grabs the cannon controls, mask deactivating to reveal his broad grin.

“Now let’s see how this thing works.” He says gleefully. Thace laughs somewhere behind him.

“That’s my boy!”

Their comms crackle again, and Coran’s jovial voice informs the rest of the coalition that “The Senthama Xyforge cannon is ours. Naxzela attack is underway.”

Keith closes his eyes. “Good luck, Voltron.”

“Thanks, Keith. Stay safe.” Shiro responds.

“Only if you do.”

For a few minutes there is silence over the comms before the rebels reach out again.

“Blades, this is Matt! We’re being wiped out, is there any chance you can use your cannon to help us out?”

“Copy, Matt, I’m on it.” Keith tells him, scanning the cannon’s targeting screen, trying to locate the moon the other cannon is orbiting.

“Come on, where is it?” he snarls. “Come on, come on…!” The screen pings, warning of a “friendly” base, and Keith grins. “Found you. Now, here goes nothing,” He pulls the controls back before throwing them forwards once again, sending the cannon’s beam shooting through the atmosphere.

A few moments later, he hears Matt’s voice over the comm, relief clear in his voice. “Shields down, captain!” Keith sighs as he listens to the rebels take command of their own cannon.

“Ready to provide the Taujeerians with cover,” Keith informs the castle.

“Cannon acquired, ready to provide backup.” Olia adds a moment later.

“Copy that. Coalition, you are clear to begin.” Ulaz confirms over the comm.

He hears snippets of the other coalition teams taking out their own targets and sits back on the raised platform behind him. Antok sits next to him, tail wrapping around his wrist.

“You did well, little one. We are proud of you.”

“Thanks.” Keith sighs, leaning against his father’s shoulder. Thace takes the cannon controls and sends a few more blasts the Taujeerians’ way, cackling all the while.

Soon enough, everything but Naxella itself is under their control. Keith thinks they’re in the clear, until a battle cruiser shows up on their radar out of nowhere.

“Let me see if I can get a line on that battle cruiser.” Matt says, then makes a startled noise. “Xyforge cannon Senthama, are you still operational?”

Keith frowns and looks up at Thace, who still has the controls, but then they wink out of existence and the overhead lights flicker out.

“Negative.” He tells Matt.

“That incoming battle cruiser must have shut them down remotely.” Coran surmises.

Keith growls a little. “Sorry, Shiro, that’s it for artillery support. What should we do about that cruiser?”

“That cruiser’s gonna be too late! Naxzela’s almost secure, we just need to take out the last of the heavy artillery!” Shiro tells him. Keith can hear crashing in the background. They must still be fighting.

Still, Keith gets an uneasy feeling.

“Dad, can you try to get any info on that cruiser?” He asks over the comm.

“I can try.” Ulaz says. “Give me a moment.”

A few dobashes later, Ulaz grunts. “That’s odd.”

“What?” Keith stands.

“The ship’s stopped moving towards Naxella.”

“Perhaps they know they’re too late?” Coran suggests.

“No. Victory or death is the way of the empire.” Ulaz says lowly. “They must be planning something.”

Keith’s eyes narrow. “Shiro? Shiro come in.”

Silence.

“Pidge? Hey, Katie, can you hear me?”

More silence.

“Hunk? Lance? Allura! Paladins, can anyone hear me?”

Still no response.

Keith growls. “Something’s wrong. Voltron’s communication is being blocked.”

“It must be the magnetic distortion from Naxella.” Coran tells him.

“No, they were communicating with us just fine until a few moments ago.”

Keith turns to face his dads. “I’m gonna go check it out.”

“You’ll need a ship.” Thace tells him.

Keith glances out the window and points down. “That will do.”

They all look down to see a Galra fighter.

“Be careful, kiddo.” Thace says as Keith re-activates his mask.

“Stay in contact.” Kolivan warns.

“I will.”

~*~

“Matt, something’s wrong. I can’t reach Voltron.” He tells Matt as he’s flying away from Senthama.

“We can fly to Naxella and check on them.” Matt tells him, but Keith is already shaking his head.

“No, I need your help. I can’t explain why, but I know we need to attack that fleet.”

“I thought the fleet had stopped?”

“It has, but we’re afraid it has something to do with Voltron.”

A pause. “We’re with you.”

Keith smiles. “Copy that. Good to have you along.”

“Always, buddy.”

As he approaches the ship, a small collection of rebel crafts fall in behind him.

“What’s the plan, Keith?”

“Figure out how they’re disrupting Voltron’s communications. And, well, probably blow them up.”

Matt laughs. “Goddamn, Kogane, I did miss you.”

“I’m coming too!” Coran says quickly. “Well, we are, Ulaz and I. It might take us a while; We’re on the other side of the galaxy and I don’t have enough of Allura’s energy left to work the teludav.”

“No,” Keith tells the older Altean. “Stay in position. We might need you back there.”

 “Okay, if… if you say so.” Coran says hesitantly.

“Kit…” Ulaz says quietly.

“I got this, Dad.” He tells his father.

A few dobashes later, his comm crackles to life again. “Keith, can you hear me?”

“Shiro!” He sags a little with relief. “Where are you? Is everything okay?” He asks.

“Not for long if we don’t stop Zarkon’s witch. She must be aboard that battle cruiser.” Shiro grits out.

Keith smirks. “I’m way ahead of you, and I brought some backup.”

Matt laughs over the comm. “We got this, Shiro!”

They finally get within sight of the ship, and Keith’s hands tighten on the controls. “Follow my lead!” he tells the rebels. “We’ve gotta break through that shield-” he shouts, suddenly knocked to the side by a laser he didn’t see coming. It leaves the ship drained and the weapons system is offline. Keith growls.

He glances around to see the rebel ships attacking the battle cruiser with everything they have, but there’s some sort of forcefield that their weapons just can’t seem to get through. They need something stronger, something _bigger_ , they need…

Keith grits his teeth.

“We’ll never penetrate those shields!” Matt says, voice strained over the comm.

“Maybe not with our weapons.” Keith says quietly. Then he pushes the ship forwards, headed straight for the ship.

“Keith, what are you doing!?” Matt shouts. “Keith, no!”

“No other choice.” Keith says quietly. “It’s me, or it’s everyone, and no way in the void am I letting that happen.”

“Kit!” Ulaz all but screams over the comm. “Don’t you dare, don’t you _dare…!_ ”

He closes his eyes as he gets close. “Tell them I’m sorry.”

He lets his mind go blank. If it’s a choice between him or his pack, he’ll pick them, every time.

Suddenly, an explosion rocks through the space between him and the ship. His eyes fly open and he dodges debris from the now-destroyed front of the ship.

What the fuck, what the _fuck!?_

His heart is racing. He just… he almost…

But why isn’t he?

He looks up to see an annoyingly familiar ship and growls.

“Good work, Keith,” Shiro huffs.

“It wasn’t me,” Keith says, voice shaking. “It was Lotor. The cannon on his ship was the only thing powerful enough to take down that shield.”

“Attention Paladins of Voltron and rebel fighters,” a prim, supremely annoying voice hums over the comms, “I believe it is time we had a discussion.”

“We’ll see about that.” Shiro says coldly.

Keith sighs and turns off his comm.

Fuck, he almost died. And even though he didn’t, he’s still about to be killed. His dad will see to that.

~*~

They get Lotor onto the ship and lock him in a cell, then Ulaz scoops him up into the tightest hug of his life.

“You, you-!” Ulaz snarls and nuzzles Keith’s neck, scenting him frantically. “You almost-!”

“Consider it payback for you and Papa and Antok almost dying on me.” He mumbles.

“I was so _scared!_ ” Ulaz sobs, hugging him tighter.

“I’m sorry, Dad.” Keith murmurs, gripping his father tightly in return. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“ _Damn_ the ‘right thing’.” Ulaz hisses.

_“Keith!”_

Someone slams into him from behind. “Oh fuck, you, you son of a bitch, you gave me a fucking _heart attack!_ ” Matt sobs.

“Sorry.”

“Keith Thace Kogane!!”

Keith sighs.

The rest of his fathers rush in. Thace collapses next to Ulaz and hugs them both (plus Matt who is still clinging), Antok hovers over them all hands petting through Keith’s hair anxiously, and Kolivan gives him the lecture of a lifetime, but it’s kind of ruined by the hiccupping sobs that keep interrupting it.

Then the paladins walk in.

“Keith? Is everything alright? Are you hurt?” Shiro demands. Keith can’t actually see him through all the purple fur in his way.

“You didn’t hear what he almost _did_?” Matt growls.

“Oh no. What?” Pidge sighs.

When Matt explains, haltingly, what Keith had nearly done to save them all, the swarm around him grows even bigger.

Pidge worms her way to the center of the pile and wraps all of her limbs around Keith’s torso muttering “you idiot, you goddamn idiot, how could you even think of doing that”. Lance, Hunk and Allura make wounded noises and wiggle into the dad-pile as much as they can, laying hands on any part of Keith they can reach.

Shiro does not join in, and that surprises Keith. He cranes his neck around to try and catch sight of his sort-of-mate, and finally spots him, kneeling on the ground and staring at him with hollow eyes.

“This is all my fault.” He whispers, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. He covers his face with his hands. “If I hadn’t yelled at you… If I hadn’t all but _chased_ you away… god, Keith, I’m so _sorry_ …!”

Keith whines quietly and somehow manages to wiggle out of the strangle-hold his fathers have on him, crawling over to Shiro and curling up in his lap.

“It’s not because of that, Takashi.” He murmurs. “I promise it’s not.”

“If I hadn’t, you’d have still been in the castle, you wouldn’t have-”

“Yes, I would have. And you know it. It’s who I am, Shiro. I’m danger-prone, remember? It’s in my blood.”

“Unfortunately.” Ulaz mutters, coming over and wrapping them both in a (less suffocating) embrace. “Please, kit, for all our sakes, never do that again.”

Slowly, the others join them in their new location. Pidge once again worms right up against Keith and grips both him and Shiro tightly, wiping at her eyes angrily. Matt curls up behind her. Lance and Allura take up positions opposite the Holts and Hunk curls around Shiro’s back. Coran kneels behind Allura and Thace, Antok and Kolivan wrap around all of them.

Keith smiles a little, just this side of too-warm and legs and arms aching from the pressure of so many people pressing in close. The scent of saline, fear, and relief are mixing in the air but is gradually clearing into something soft and safe. Pack.

Keith closes his eyes and sighs, nosing Shiro’s neck gently. The clone’s scent may be different from his mate’s, but the clone too is pack now. All Keith needs are the Original Shiro, the rest of the Holts, and the Shiroganes. Then everyone he loves will be together.

But for now, this is more than enough, held safely in the arms of his packmates.

 

END PART 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The answer to the bet was: All of them. All of them freak out the most. So all of you were correct. Congratulations!   
> I don't know if I'm fully happy with the end of this chapter so I may edit it, who knows. But the second most important thing is that the dreaded S3 and S4 are over! Part 5 is over! Now on to Part 6! In a month!   
> What is the first most important thing you may ask? Season 8, the final Season, comes out in two days. May the gods have mercy on all our souls. I shall see you all after the end of all things, my dears. Have a wonderful December, no matter what you may celebrate!


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